Antonomy - Lecture Excerpts from Deborah Gordon

Eventhough most of the below description could suit many different species of ants, the discussion is more focussed on ants which live in South Arizona deserts.

1. Ants always live in colonies.
2. Like bees, there seems to be a lot of similarity with ants in the way of work, reproduction and colonisation.
3. There are the queens one or more reproductive females and other female ants who are menials and do daily work.
4. The ants as i listened to one of the lectures is the ones who live in South Arizona.
The main topic is how interaction of ants within the colony helps in determining the behaviour of the colony.

Ants
1. In some species of worker ants they are in different sizes based on the kind of work they do.
2.There are also ant species who are all of the same size but still do different work .
3.There is a group of ants called the harvester ants whose job is to go and collect seeds.
4.The males have tiny smaller heads than females, thats how you can identify.
5. Males are only alive couple of weeks, and they die after coupling with Queen.
6.Lifecycle is Egg-> Larva->Pupa-> Adult ant.
7. Ants seems to be always talking , thats what we assume , but actually they check whether the other ant belongs to the same colony by touching the antennae.
8. Ants of the same colony have a sense of hydrocarbon chemical similar to everyone in the same cololny.
9. Depending upon the type of ant species , it secretes a particular chemical substance leaving the food trail for other ants to follow.

Queen
1. New colonies are constantly created and some colonies exist as long as 20 years.
2. The female queen lives as long as 20 years and digs a hole and lays her eggs.
3.She goes outside the nest only for mating and once returned never leaves for a long time to come.
4. A colony dies when the queen dies, because no new ants are produced but existing ants continue the same work as it did when the Queen was alive. In honeybee, a Queen dies, sister queens can take over.
5. Queen mates only once in her lifetime but in honeybee colony a bee queen mates more times.
6. Queen doesnt command any of the workers

Colonies
1. A chemical substance is sprayed around the colony so as to act as a warning system for other species of ants around a colony.
2. The colony can grow to around 10,000 ants in five years time. 3.Inside a colony you have a cone shaped chambers , the chambers are connected to each other using a small narrow tunnel vertically down and the queen chamber would be way down usually uninhabited by other worker ants.
4. Process of colonies are organized and efforts allocated depending either for exmaple , more food is available or when the colonies are flooded are washed requiring more work therefore.
5. Old colonies provide consistent foraging or collecting food compared to younger colonies.

Work Force
1. Its not clear whether the queen lays more eggs on demand or has its own reproductive phase.
2. The harvester ants does the following
1. Foraging
2. Patrolling
3. Nest Maintenance
4. Midden work

Foragers:
Leaves the nest , searches for the food and carry the food back to the nest.
Patrollers :
They decide where to go and find food. Foragers follow them blindly.
Nest Maintenance:
Managers take care of the next management by solidfying the nest with dry sand.
Midden:
They are the territorial markers who fence the colony.

3. One group does the outside activity ( Patrollers & Foragers) and they take the food and leave it just inside chamber door
4. Most of the group works inside, there are some to store food , who pick up the food packets dropped at the front of the chamber doors and preserves them.
5. Nest making ants keep securing the chambers and building.
6. 50% most of the ants do not do activity and act as reserves in case of emergency , not know exactly what their roles are.
7. Most of the food goes to the larvae stage of the ants, the ants outside roaming dont eat much.

Experiments
1. some tooth picks were put over the next covering, and Nest maintenance worker ants grew more.
2.Breaking the line of patrollers, created more patrollers for better routs in change for food.
3. When more food is put near the ant hole, the nest maintenance, patrollers and the middens take the role as foragers and drop whatever activity they have been doing.
4. If more patrolling is demanded, nest maintenance workers alone leave their jobs and aid the patrollers.
5. if nest maintenance workers leave, usually the jobs remain unfilled.

Analysis
1. So this proves that there seems to be someone assigning work based on the circumstance or the situation as it demands. Or each of them know their own responsibilities and act as it demands.
2. Its amazing that without a coordinator or without a communication system or an implicit understanding , such ants cannot be working with such disciplines among themseleves.
3. is this therefore purely based on instinctive activity or is there something more to it ?
4. One way of communication between ants could be in the frequency with which each of them brush the antennae , or the rate of interaction which could mean whether they require more foragers, or patrollers etc.
5. How does foragers know patrollers etc.. by the hydrocarbon coating outside them they can differentiate and the hydrocarbon profile varies depending upon the type of work it does rather than ants being born as foragers or patrollers etc.
6. No ants can perceive another ant , unless it can smell it closely and exchanging of chemicals using the antennae ensures what type the other ant is and whether they belong to the same colony.