Colony size as a buffer against seasonality: Bergmann's rule in social insects
- Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, CA (United States)
In eusocial species, the size of the superorganism is the summed sizes of its component individuals. Bergmann's rule, the cline of decreasing size with decreasing latitude, applies to colony size in ants. Using data from the literature and our own collections, we show that colony sizes of tropical ant species are on average 1/10th the size of temperate species. The patterns holds for 5 of 6 subfamilies and 15 of 16 genera tested. What causes this trend Larger colonies of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, are better able to protect the queen (the colony's reproductive tissue) against food shortage, likely by sacrificing workers (it's somatic tissue). Days of queen survival follows the allometry M[sup 0.25]. We propose that the shorter growing seasons in temperate latitudes cull small-colony species through over-wintering starvation.
- OSTI ID:
- 7265419
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940894-; CODEN: BECLAG
- Journal Information:
- Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States), Vol. 75:2; Conference: Annual Ecological Society of America (ESA) meeting: science and public policy, Knoxville, TN (United States), 7-11 Aug 1994; ISSN 0012-9623
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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