Nature Revealed: Selected Writings, 1949-2006

733 Pages·2006·31.452 MB·English

by  Edward O. Wilson

T
WO-TIME PULITZER _PRIZE .
WINNER EDWARD 0. WILSON
is one of the leading biologists and
philosophical thinkers of our time. In
this compelling collection, Wilson's
observations range from the tiny glands
of ants to the nature of the living universe.
Many of the pieces are considered land
marks in evolutionary biology; ecology;
and behavioral biology.
Wilson explores topics as diverse as
slavery in ants, the genetic basis of societal
structure, the discovery of the taxon cycle,
the original formulation of the theory of
island biogeography, a critique of sub
species as a unit of classification, and
the conservation oflife's diversity Each
article is presented in its original form,
dating from Wilson's first published work
in 1949 to his most recent exploration of the
natural world. Preceding each piece is a brief
essay by Wilson that explains the context in
which the article was written and provides
insights into the scientist himself and the
debates of the time.
This collection enables us to share Wilson's
various vantage points and to view the
complexities of nature through his eyes.
Wilson aficionados, along with readers
discovering his work for the first time, will
find in this collection a world of beauty;
complexity; and challenge.
Nature Revealed

Edward 0. Wilson
Nature Revealed
SELECTED WRITINGS,
1949-2006
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
Baltimore
© 2006 E. 0. Wilson
All rights reserved. Published 2006
Printed in the United States of America on.acid-free paper
987654321
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
wwwpress.jhu.edu
library of Congress Cataloging-in-Pubhcation Data
Wilson, Edward 0.
Nature revealed: selected writings, 1949-2006 / Edward 0. Wilson.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN o-80I8-8329-6 (hardcover: alk. paper)
I. Ants. 2. Insect societies. 3. Biological diversity 4. Biological diversity conservation.
I. Title.
Q1,568.F7W63 2006
570-dc22
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Contents
Preface ix
PART I. ANTS AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
I Richteri, the fire ant 3
2 Variation and adaptation in the imported fire ant 6
3 The origin and evolution of polymorphism in ants 19
4 Qt!antitative studies of liquid food transmission in ants 42
5 The beginnings of nomadic and group-predatory behavior in
the ponerine ants 53
6 Source and possible nature of the odor trail of fire ants 62
7 Chemical communication among workers of the fire ant
Solenopsis saevissima (Fr. Smith), I. The organization of
mass-foraging 66
8 Pheromones 82
9 The first Mesozoic ants 94
IO The ergonomics of caste in the social insects 98
II The prospect for a unified sociobiology 125
12 Slavery in ants 130
13 Sociobiology: the new synthesis 136
14 Sociobiology at century's end 166
15 Human decency is animal 171
vi CONTENTS
r6 Behavioral discretization and the number of castes in an ant
species 178
17 The organization of colony defense in the ant Pheidole dentata
Mayr 194
18 The number of queens: an important trait in ant evolution 214
19 The ethical implications of human sociobiology 223
20 Caste and division oflabor in leaf-cutter ants 227
21 Precis of Genes, Mind, and Culture 237
22 The relation between caste ratios and division of labor in the
ant genus Pheidole 275
23 The sociogenesis of insect colonies 286
24 Between-caste aversion as a basis for division oflabor in the
ant Pheidole pubiventris 294
25 The earliest known ants: an analysis of the Cretaceous species
and an inference concerning their social organization 298
26 The dominance of social insects 309
2 7 The effects of complex social life on evolution and
biodiversity 323
28 Pheidole nasutoides, a new species of Costa Rican ant that apparently
mimics termites 330
29 In memory of William Louis Brown 339
30 Ant plagues: a centuries-old mystery solved 343
PART II. BIODIVERSITY STUDIES: SYSTEMATICS AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
31 The subspecies concept and its taxonomic application 353
32 Character displacement 370
33 Patchy distributions of ant species in New Guinea rain
forests 387
34 The nature of the taxon cycle in the Melanesian ant fauna 401
35 An equilibrium theory of island biogeography 427
CONTENTS vii
36 A consistency test for phylogenies based on contemporaneous
species 443
37 The challenge from related species 451
38 An estimate of the potential evolutionary increase in species
density in the Polynesian ant fauna 473
39 The species equilibrium 484
40 The plight of taxonomy 495
41 The biogeography of the West Indian ants 497
42 Editor's foreword (from Biodiversity) 515
43 The current state of biological diversity 515
44 Threats to biodiversity 535
45 The high frontier 543
46 The origins of hyperdivcrsity 574
47 A global biodiversity map 582
48 On the future of conservation biology 582
49 The encyclopedia oflife 582
50 Taxonomy as a fundamental discipline 582
PART Ill. CONSERVATION AND THE HUMAN CONDITION
51 The conservation of life 595
52 Applied biogcography 603
53 Resolutions for the 8os 617
54 The biological diversity crisis: a challenge to science 619
55 Outcry from a world of wounds 630
56 The little things that run the world 634
57 The coming pluralization of biology and the stewardship of
systematics 638
58 Biophilia and the conservation ethic 644
vm CONTENTS
59 Is humanity suicidal? 656
60 Consilience among the great branches oflearning 665
61 Integrated science and the coming century of the
environment 685
Appendix: The Published Works ofE dward 0. Wilson 689
Index 715