Smith Chris R, Dolezal Adam, Eliyahu Dorit, Holbrook C Tate, Gadau Jürgen
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
Cold Spring Harb Protoc. 2009 Jul;2009(7):pdb.emo125. doi: 10.1101/pdb.emo125.
The family Formicidae (ants) is composed of more than 12,000 described species that vary greatly in size, morphology, behavior, life history, ecology, and social organization. Ants occur in most terrestrial habitats and are the dominant animals in many of them. They have been used as models to address fundamental questions in ecology, evolution, behavior, and development. The literature on ants is extensive, and the natural history of many species is known in detail. Phylogenetic relationships for the family, as well as within many subfamilies, are known, enabling comparative studies. Their ease of sampling and ecological variation makes them attractive for studying populations and questions relating to communities. Their sociality and variation in social organization have contributed greatly to an understanding of complex systems, division of labor, and chemical communication. Ants occur in colonies composed of tens to millions of individuals that vary greatly in morphology, physiology, and behavior; this variation has been used to address proximate and ultimate mechanisms generating phenotypic plasticity. Relatedness asymmetries within colonies have been fundamental to the formulation and empirical testing of kin and group selection theories. Genomic resources have been developed for some species, and a whole-genome sequence for several species is likely to follow in the near future; comparative genomics in ants should provide new insights into the evolution of complexity and sociogenomics. Future studies using ants should help establish a more comprehensive understanding of social life, from molecules to colonies.
蚁科由12000多种已被描述的物种组成，这些物种在大小、形态、行为、生活史、生态和社会组织等方面差异极大。蚂蚁出现在大多数陆地栖息地，并且在其中许多栖息地中是优势动物。它们已被用作模型来解决生态学、进化、行为和发育等方面的基本问题。关于蚂蚁的文献极为丰富，许多物种的自然史都有详细记载。该科以及许多亚科内部的系统发育关系已为人所知，这使得进行比较研究成为可能。它们易于采样且生态多样，这使其成为研究种群以及与群落相关问题的理想对象。它们的社会性以及社会组织的多样性极大地促进了人们对复杂系统、劳动分工和化学通讯的理解。蚂蚁生活在由 tens 到数百万个体组成的蚁群中，这些个体在形态、生理和行为上差异极大；这种差异已被用于研究产生表型可塑性的近端和远端机制。蚁群内的亲缘不对称对于亲属选择和群体选择理论的形成及实证检验至关重要。已经为一些物种开发了基因组资源，并且在不久的将来可能会有几个物种的全基因组序列问世；蚂蚁的比较基因组学应该会为复杂性进化和社会基因组学提供新的见解。未来使用蚂蚁进行的研究应该有助于建立对从分子到蚁群的社会生活更全面的理解。
