Success and Dominance in Ecosystems: The Case of the Social Insects

120 Pages·1990·17.303 MB·English

by  Edward O. Wilson

OTT0 KINNE
Editor
Edward 0. Wilson
SUCCESS AND
DOMINANCE
IN ECOSYSTEMS:
THE CASE OF THE
SOCIAL INSECTS
Introduction (Otto Kinne)
Edward 0. Wilson: A Laudatio (Sir Richard Southwood)
Publisher : Ecology Institute
Nordbiinte 23, D-2124 Oldendorf/Luhe,
Federal Republic of Germany
Edward 0. Wilson
Museum of Comparative Zoology
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138
USA
ISSN 0932-2205
Copyright 01 990, by Ecology Institute, D-2124 Oldendorf/Luhe, Federal Republic of Germany
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced by any means, nor transmitted, nor translated without
written permission of the publisher
Printed in F. R. Germany
Typesetting, printing and bookbinding by Konrad Triltsch, Graphischer Betrieb, Wiirzburg
The god of the bees is the future.
Maeterlinck
Contents
Introduction (0. Kinne) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IX
Edward 0 . Wilson: Recipient of'the Ecology Institute
Prize 1987 in Terrestrial Ecology .
A Laudatio (Sir Richard Southwood) . . . . . . . . XVII
Preface (E . 0 . Wilson) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XXI
I The Dominance of the Social Insects . . . . . . . . . 1
I1 The Social Insects: A Primer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
I11 The Meaning of Success and Dominance . . . . . . . 19
Are Social Insects Evolutionarily Successful? . . . . . 23
The Ecological Dominance of Social Insects . . . . . 27
How Closely are Success and Dominance Linked? . . 32
(1) Number of species generated through time . . . 33
(2) One or more species hold exclusive or nearly
exclusive occupancy of a major adaptive zone . . 33
(3) The homeostatic maintenance of large
populations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
(4) A large geographic range . . . . . . . . . . 34
(5) Competitive preemption . . . . . . . . . . . 35
IV Why Are Social Insects Ecologically dominant? . . . . 37
Series-parallel Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Worker Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Resource Inheritance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Social Homeostasis and Flexibility . . . . . . . . . 47
Why Aren't All Insects Eusocial? . . . . . . . . . . 51
VIII
V The Superorganism......................................................... . 55
How the Superorganism W orks.................................... 58
Mass Communication .................... 59
Adaptive Demography . . ........................ 62
Extreme C astes.....................................................................65
Penetration of New Adaptive Z o n es.................................66
VI Social Optimization .................................................................73
Caste Ratios in Leafcutter A n ts.........................................74
Number of Queens in Honeypot Ants............................ 76
Multiple Nest Sites in Lasius Ants................................ 77
The Discretization of Labor Assignments.........................77
Size Matching Within Bee Colonies.....................................79
VII Competition and Community Organization.........................81
Competition and Species Hierarchies............................ 81
The Dominance-Impoverishment R u le ........................ 84
Active Species Displacement.................... 85
Enemy Specification.............................................................86
Competition in Other Social Insects .................................88
The Impact on Other Organisms.........................................89
ViII Hawaii: A World Without Social Insects..................................91
IX General Summary.....................................................................97
References.............................................................................................99
Introduction
0 . Kinne
Ecology Institute, Nordbiinte 23, D-2124 Oldendorf/Luhe,
Federal Republic of Germany
"Excellence in Ecology" (EE) presents books authored by noted ecol-
ogists of our time: the recipients of the Ecology Institute Prize. EE is
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Marine Ecology
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