The survival of an ant colony depends on its members being able to distinguish their own nestmates from ants of a foreign—and possibly hostile—colony. This so-called nestmate recognition is based on scents emitted by ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 5, 2022
0
67
Just as humans are challenged from the social isolation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a new study finds that a solitary lifestyle has profound effects on the brains of a social insect: paper wasps.
Plants & Animals
Apr 14, 2021
0
208
Social insects like honeybees and hornets evolved from solitary bees and wasps, respectively. A common trait of many social insects is age-specific behavior: when they emerge from the pupa, workers typically specialize in ...
Cell & Microbiology
Nov 16, 2020
0
549
Ants are one of the most successful groups of animals on the planet, occupying anywhere from temperate soil to tropical rainforests, desert dunes and kitchen counters. They're social insects and their team-working abilities ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 19, 2020
1
236
A team of scientists has found that a species of ant that clusters together to form rafts to survive floods exhibits memory and repeatedly occupies the same position during raft formation, according to a just published paper.
Plants & Animals
Apr 18, 2016
1
1150
The evolution of language converted a defenceless naked ape into a world-dominating force. It fundamentally transformed how humans transmit information and knowledge. A large and potent component of language is our ability ...
Plants & Animals
Dec 14, 2018
1
30
A new study has shown that bumblebees pick up new "trends" in their behavior by watching and learning from other bees, and that one form of a behavior can spread rapidly through a colony even when a different version gets ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 7, 2023
1
596
In 1964 biologist William Hamilton introduced Inclusive Fitness Theory to predict and explain phenomena ranging from animal behavior to patterns of gene expression. With its many successes, the theory became a cornerstone ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 25, 2011
0
0
Rice University evolutionary biologists David Queller and Joan Strassmann argue in a new paper that high cooperation and low conflict between components, from the genetic level on up, give a living thing its "organismality," ...
Evolution
Nov 9, 2009
6
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- New research published today in Nature Communications online journal suggests that monogamy and close genetic relationships work together to enhance the cooperative social structure of insects such as bees, ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 20, 2011
0
0
