No chance for false Koniginnen: With strict control, insect companies receive their efficiency
Bees, wasps, ants – all these species are considered flibical. With rigid division of labor and cooperation you reach a high degree of efficiency. But in the strict order is not all peace, joy, egg cake. Also in insect populations there are conflicts and research always finds more and more examples that the so-called policing (here with control) plays a central role in their solution. In the current ie of Science, the biologists l are dedicated. W. Ratnieks and Tom Wenselser’s topic.
Conflict case reproduction
Conflicts arise when individuals pursue different interests. In insects, these usually turn around the reproduction. The reproductive monopoly of the Regenter applies, which must be maintained by all subjects. The scientific theory is: living beings are all the more successful, the better they succeed in transferring their genes to offspring.
In the stunning insects, all workers from the conical come from, they are sisters. That’s why you continue your genes when you help your mother to produce more sisters.
Uncontrolled multiplication hurts
By reproduction, individuals out their surroundings. It is costly because it costs food. In addition, uncontrolled propagation brings confused the strict division of labor between Konigin and workers and reduces the efficiency of the entire insect colony. Such egoism must therefore be prevented.
Already 15 years ago, researchers discovered a strategy against such self-titled behavior at honey bees, the so-called Worker Policing. It means that workers have banned eggs who have banned other workers. Recent examinations have shown that not only the honeybees do so, alone this year, five new species were found, overall the worker Policing is currently occupied at 15 types of bees, wasps and ants.
Little success for ambitious workers
But there are also workers who try to rely out of their hierarchy stage at bee volcers. That’s possible, as genetically, all female larvae, possessing potential, to become a congress. However, such ambition can be stopped by the food intake can be stopped by the food workers.
For some sparkling bee species, such an unbalanced cruelly punishes: as soon as the fraudulent Konignen slips, they are knocked up or tattered. At the Cape Honeybiene, on the other hand, ambitious workers can expect more success. There is the control of weakly operated, which is probably because it succeeds in providing the workers concerned to provide their eggs with the smell of the county eggs.
Model system for conflict resolution
Like the biologists Francis L. W. RATNIEKS and TOM WENSELEERS from the Universitat Sheffield, who is currently researching Berlin at the Science College, has the controller "Policing two destinations: It exposes selfish behavior and it prevails. The more successful it is used, the less egoism is there. Policing ensures that the actions of individuals remain subordinate to the common good.
Social insects such as ants, wasps and bees present good model systems for biologists to examine the evolution of cooperation and conflict resolution. RATNIEKS and WENSELEERS work in Berlin as part of the focus group "Conflict resolution in biological systems "with these topics.
Moves something for human societies from this research? And what could be that? "The most important lesson seems that policing is a fundamental characteristic of social life, "writing the two biologists. "Policing helps to loose conflicts that arise when transitioning individuals to societies."In the case of insect folks, this always means that the basic inequality is consolidated between chocolates and workers.
For insect volcers, self-advanced individuals can be made by control on line. For human societies, everything is a lot more complicated and in the face of what is already technically possible to monitor and what is considered in times of terrorist, one can not wish for control. Nevertheless, the authors can see their articles with a kind of utopia: the "Human Police State ", in the control of equality and justice.