| Interrogating an insect society. | |
| | |
MedLine Citation:
|
PMID: 19487678 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
|
Insect societies such as those of ants, bees, and wasps consist of 1 or a small number of fertile queens and a large number of sterile or nearly sterile workers. While the queens engage in laying eggs, workers perform all other tasks such as nest building, acquisition and processing of food, and brood care. How do such societies function in a coordinated and efficient manner? What are the rules that individuals follow? How are these rules made and enforced? These questions are of obvious interest to us as fellow social animals but how do we interrogate an insect society and seek answers to these questions? In this article I will describe my research that was designed to seek answers from an insect society to a series of questions of obvious interest to us. I have chosen the Indian paper wasp Ropalidia marginata for this purpose, a species that is abundantly distributed in peninsular India and serves as an excellent model system. An important feature of this species is that queens and workers are morphologically identical and physiologically nearly so. How then does an individual become a queen? How does the queen suppress worker reproduction? How does the queen regulate the nonreproductive activities of the workers? What is the function of aggression shown by different individuals? How and when is the queen's heir decided? I will show how such questions can indeed be investigated and will emphasize the need for a whole range of different techniques of observation and experimentation. |
| | |
Authors:
|
Raghavendra Gadagkar |
Related Documents
:
|
19926608 - In the interest of all who value their purse and their health: a brief history of the '... 21441858 - Financial conflicts of interest in economic analyses in oncology. 21304728 - The earth microbiome project: meeting report of the "1 emp meeting on sample selection ... 17732768 - A correction. 15603618 - The ups and downs of the international society for telemedicine. 22198778 - Management of precancerous conditions and lesions in the stomach (maps): guideline from... |
Publication Detail:
|
Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Date: 2009-06-01 |
Journal Detail:
|
Title: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Volume: 106 ISSN: 1091-6490 ISO Abbreviation: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. Publication Date: 2009 Jun |
Date Detail:
|
Created Date: 2009-07-01 Completed Date: 2009-09-28 Revised Date: 2010-09-24 |
Medline Journal Info:
|
Nlm Unique ID: 7505876 Medline TA: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Country: United States |
Other Details:
|
Languages: eng Pagination: 10407-14 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
|
Centre for Ecological Sciences and Centre for Contemporary Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. ragh@ces.iisc.ernet.in |
Export Citation:
|
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
|
Animal Communication Animals Feeding Behavior Female Male Models, Biological Nesting Behavior Social Behavior* Social Dominance* Wasps / physiology* |
| Comments/Corrections | |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document: Sorting in early endosomes reveals connections to docking- and fusion-associated factors.
Next Document: Measurement of internal body time by blood metabolomics.