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Ants and Bees: Common Stomach Regulation Provide Stability for Societies

In: Resilience and Stability of Ecological and Social Systems

Author

Listed:
  • István Karsai

    (East Tennessee State University, Department of Biological Sciences)

  • Thomas Schmickl

    (Karl-Franzens-Universitat, Department of Zoology)

  • George Kampis

    (Eotvos University Budapest)

Abstract

The common stomach regulation system, albeit originally found in wasp societies, could be applied to other insect societies as well. We generalized the concept of the common stomach and applied this new concept to describe task allocation mechanisms for Ectatomma ants and honeybees. In these systems, the in- and outflow of the essential materials are regulated by the workforce, and the workforce itself is regulated by the saturation of the materials in the colony. The stability and resilience of colonies are ensured by these feedback loops at various scales. Our sensitivity tests and a comparison of the model predictions to experimental data shows that this regulation appears to be a key to the universal success of insect societies. We show that this mechanism is very robust in general and works well in different environments. We also tested several evolutionary scenarios concerning plant-pollination vs. honeybee colony overwintering, and found that pollen hoarding would be beneficial for the plant and for the short time success of the colony, but it would decrease the honey storages at the same time, which essential for overwintering. A regulation based on the common stomach gives the highest fitness overall.

Suggested Citation

  • István Karsai & Thomas Schmickl & George Kampis, 2020. "Ants and Bees: Common Stomach Regulation Provide Stability for Societies," Springer Books, in: Resilience and Stability of Ecological and Social Systems, chapter 0, pages 107-123, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-030-54560-4_6
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-54560-4_6
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