School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
J Insect Physiol. 2013 Apr;59(4):519-24. doi: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2013.02.008. Epub 2013 Mar 6.
An age-independent division of labor can develop in both the reproductive (queen) and non-reproductive (worker) castes of Pogonomyrmex californicus harvester ants, and individuals develop biases for in-nest activities or external foraging. Additionally, ant ovaries normally atrophy in foragers compared to nest-biased workers (nurses). However, it is not clear whether these ovarian changes are due to changes in behavior or age, since foragers are typically older individuals. Here, we clarify this relationship in P. californicus queens and workers by comparing ovarian activity in same-aged ants that exhibit divergent behavioral biases. We found that foraging individuals had significantly reduced ovarian activity compared to their nest-biased counterparts, thereby linking changes in the ants' reproductive system to social task performance rather than to age. The general finding that ovarian physiology is associated with social insect behaviors is consistent with the hypothesis that reproductive physiology may have played an important role in the evolution of social insect behavior.
在加利福尼亚收获蚁的生殖（蚁后）和非生殖（工蚁）等级中，可以形成一种与年龄无关的劳动分工，个体形成在巢内活动或外部觅食的偏向。此外，与巢偏爱的工蚁（护士）相比，蚂蚁的卵巢通常在觅食者中萎缩。然而，目前尚不清楚这些卵巢变化是由于行为还是年龄的改变引起的，因为觅食者通常是年龄较大的个体。在这里，我们通过比较表现出不同行为偏向的同龄蚂蚁的卵巢活动，在 P. californicus 蚁后和工蚁中阐明了这种关系。我们发现，与巢偏爱的个体相比，觅食个体的卵巢活动显著减少，从而将蚂蚁生殖系统的变化与社会任务表现联系起来，而不是与年龄联系起来。生殖生理学与社会昆虫行为相关的一般发现与以下假设一致，即生殖生理学可能在社会昆虫行为的进化中发挥了重要作用。
