Ecology of Social Insects

Abstract

Because of their sterile castes, social insects have been the focus of many studies on the evolution of altruism. Such studies stress conflicts of interest between workers and queens regarding sex ratio of brood, conflict among females for queenship, and genetic differences among nestmates to distinguish the largely overlapping predictions for the evolution of altruism derived from the theories of kin selection and parental manipulation. Interest in conflict among largely cooperating females has resulted in much more attention being paid to individual dynamics within colonies than to the ecology of social insects. This book addresses that gap. It serves as a general introduction to the ecology of social insects for general ecologists and entomologists. The subject areas range from food gathering and processing to colony organization, growth and reproduction and community organization of social insects in their environment. Brian stresses the great variability in life styles of social insects and effectively conveys considerable enthusiasm for his subject. It is possible to compare differences among social insects because each chapter contains examples taken from wasps, bees, ants and termites. The descriptions are generally arranged from the most simple societies to the most complex. The best parts of the book are those on foraging ecology, and the examples taken from ants. The introduction states that the book is organized from outside the colony to within. The result was rather confusing. For example, foods used by social insects are discussed in Chapter 2, foraging in Chapters 3 and 4, but food processing is not discussed until Chapter 9. A central theme such as might have been supplied by evolutionary theory is notably lacking. Even without a theoretical framework, summary tables comparing and contrasting the species discussed would have been helpful. Chapters 13 and 14, which outline the evolution of social behavior, colony structure, and the role of relatedness in colony organization, are probably the weakest two chapters in the book. In these chapters the presentation of alternative hypotheses for the evolution of sociality is very unclear. This book will be of most interest to non-specialists who are interested in a description of the ways in which social insects relate to their environment.