Social insects

Author: Edward
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Why study social insects? Because they, like humans, hummingbirds, and pinyon jays, represent remarkable achievements in biological evolution. Their social organization is unparalleled. Although social insects have low intelligence and have not developed social culture, their social organization far surpasses that of humans. However, in terms of group cohesion, the refinement of hierarchical differentiation, and selfless altruistic behavior of individuals, they are unattainable for humans. The reason we invite biologists to study insect societies is that they fully demonstrate the extreme level of hierarchical differentiation at all levels, from molecules to communities. Among the thousands of species of wasps, ants, bees, and termites, we see that they use the power of social organization to solve various ecological problems, while other organisms typically rely on their own efforts to tackle them.
People often refer to insect colonies (insect colony) as a "superorganism" because many of the social phenomena exhibited by such a group can be compared to the biological characteristics of organs and tissues of organisms. However, all the traits of this superorganism entirely stem from the behavioral patterns formed by individual members within the group through simple skills, and these traits can be broken down, making them easier to understand than physiological molecular mechanisms. This book completes and updates the natural history of social insects, including their numerous genera, species, and behavioral types. In these fields, modern genetics, selection theory, and biomathematics are increasingly developing to explain the evolution of insect societies and the diversity of their size and lifespan.