DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Scaling of work in insect societies

动物最重要的特征之一是它的身体大小，这对它的结构、功能和生态有深远的影响。同样，当动物形成社会群体时，个体和群体的属性可能会随着群体规模的变化而改变或扩大。在高度社会化的昆虫中，如蚂蚁和蜜蜂，群体大小差异巨大，从几个个体到数千个甚至数百万个。此外，它们的菌落紧密结合在一起，它们的功能就像有机体一样，因此可能会受到类似的比例关系的影响。这个项目将调查蚂蚁群体所做工作的组织和产出如何随群体大小而变化。蚂蚁群体表现出一种分工，不同的工蚁专门从事不同的任务，如觅食和育苗。通过操纵群体大小和测量任务绩效，研究人员将测试群体大小如何影响种子收割机蚂蚁Pogonomyrmex calforNicus的劳动分工和其他活动模式。初步证据表明，随着蜂群规模的增加，分工也会增加。该项目还将分析孵化生产的规模，这是蚂蚁群体中工作产出的主要形式，也是社会昆虫生活史和进化模型中的一个关键参数。这些结果将为昆虫协会和其他社会群体的组织、发展和进化提供洞察力。群居昆虫是地球上数量最多、生态上最成功的动物之一；它们还在经济上起着重要的作用(例如，作为传粉者和害虫)，是研究社会行为和复杂性的主要模型。此外，该项目将为一名研究生和本科生研究助理提供培训机会。调查人员还将根据他们的研究进行公共宣传，包括向K-12学生演示和对在线教育资源的贡献。

One of the most significant traits of an animal is its body size, which has profound consequences for its structure, function, and ecology. Likewise, when animals form social groups, individual and group properties may change, or scale, in response to changes in group size. In highly social insects such as ants and bees, colony size varies tremendously, from just a few individuals up to thousands or even millions. Moreover, their colonies are so tightly integrated that they function like organisms, and may thus be subject to similar scaling relationships. This project will investigate how the organization and output of work performed by ant colonies scales with colony size. Ant colonies exhibit a division of labor in which different workers specialize on different tasks such as foraging and brood care. By manipulating colony size and measuring task performance, the researchers will test how colony size affects division of labor and other patterns of activity in the seed-harvester ant Pogonomyrmex californicus. Preliminary evidence suggests that as colony size increases, division of labor increases. The project will also analyze the scaling of brood production, the major form of work output in an ant colony and a key parameter in models of social insect life history and evolution. The results will provide insights into the organization, development, and evolution of insect societies and other social groups. Social insects are among the most abundant and ecologically successful animals on earth; they also serve economically important roles (e.g., as pollinators and pests) and are leading models for the study of social behavior and complexity. In addition, the project will provide training opportunities for a graduate student and undergraduate research assistants. The investigators will also engage in public outreach based on their research, including demonstrations to K-12 students and contributions to online educational resources.