maddiegk08
Ecology F20: Ant Hill
This is a photo of an ant hill taken on September 29, 2020 in Westmont, IL. Although it is difficult to tell which species of ants live in this ant hill, I do know that this ant colony is eusocial. Eusocial species are “truly social” and are characterized by three main traits: strict division of reproductive labor, cooperative care of young, and overlapping generations. There is usually a reproductive queen, nonreproductive female worker ants, and fertile males called drones. Eusocial groups like ants are extremely cooperative; each ant carries out its specific role to help the colony survive. Organisms may exhibit cooperation because of reciprocity, direct benefits, or kin selection. Because ants live closely together, they can all benefit from helping each other and cooperating. Benefits for the colony in turn create benefits for the individual ant in terms of food, protection, survival, and sometimes reproduction. Ants are also haplodiploid. This means that females develop from fertilized eggs and are diploid while males arise from unfertilized eggs and are haploid. This means that the female worker ants are more closely related to each other than to each other than to other members of the colony. This provides an explanation for the possibility of kin selection in ants, as related worker ants would be motivated to cooperate to increase the fitness of their closest relatives. As a child, I enjoyed watching ants march towards a food source and walk away with pieces of food in a straight line, so it was interesting to learn about the behavior of ants from an ecological perspective.
Ecology F20: Ant Hill
This is a photo of an ant hill taken on September 29, 2020 in Westmont, IL. Although it is difficult to tell which species of ants live in this ant hill, I do know that this ant colony is eusocial. Eusocial species are “truly social” and are characterized by three main traits: strict division of reproductive labor, cooperative care of young, and overlapping generations. There is usually a reproductive queen, nonreproductive female worker ants, and fertile males called drones. Eusocial groups like ants are extremely cooperative; each ant carries out its specific role to help the colony survive. Organisms may exhibit cooperation because of reciprocity, direct benefits, or kin selection. Because ants live closely together, they can all benefit from helping each other and cooperating. Benefits for the colony in turn create benefits for the individual ant in terms of food, protection, survival, and sometimes reproduction. Ants are also haplodiploid. This means that females develop from fertilized eggs and are diploid while males arise from unfertilized eggs and are haploid. This means that the female worker ants are more closely related to each other than to each other than to other members of the colony. This provides an explanation for the possibility of kin selection in ants, as related worker ants would be motivated to cooperate to increase the fitness of their closest relatives. As a child, I enjoyed watching ants march towards a food source and walk away with pieces of food in a straight line, so it was interesting to learn about the behavior of ants from an ecological perspective.