Department of Biology, California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, California 90747, USA.
Annu Rev Entomol. 2012;57:291-308. doi: 10.1146/annurev-ento-120710-100708. Epub 2011 Sep 9.
Social insect colonies are typically mobile entities, moving nests from one location to another throughout the life of a colony. The majority of social insect species-ants, bees, wasps, and termites-have likely adopted the habit of relocating nests periodically. The syndromes of nest relocation include legionary nomadism, unstable nesting, intrinsic nest relocation, and adventitious nest relocation. The emergence of nest movement is a functional response to a broad range of potential selective forces, including colony growth, competition, foraging efficiency, microclimate, nest deterioration, nest quality, parasitism, predation, and seasonality. Considering the great taxonomic and geographic distribution of nest movements, assumptions regarding the nesting biology of social insects should be reevaluated, including our understanding of population genetics, life-history evolution, and the role of competition in structuring communities.
昆虫的蚁巢通常是可移动的实体，它们在蚁群的生命周期中会从一个地方迁移到另一个地方。大多数社会性昆虫物种——蚂蚁、蜜蜂、黄蜂和白蚁——可能已经养成了定期迁移巢穴的习惯。蚁巢迁移的综合征包括军团式游牧、不稳定的筑巢、内在的蚁巢迁移和偶然的蚁巢迁移。蚁巢移动的出现是对广泛的潜在选择压力的一种功能反应，包括群体生长、竞争、觅食效率、小气候、蚁巢恶化、蚁巢质量、寄生、捕食和季节性。考虑到蚁巢移动在很大的分类和地理分布上的存在，我们应该重新评估有关社会性昆虫筑巢生物学的假设，包括我们对种群遗传学、生活史进化以及竞争在构建群落中的作用的理解。
