Billick Ian
Department of Biology, University of California, San Diego, CA, 92037, USA.
Oecologia. 2002 Jul;132(2):244-249. doi: 10.1007/s00442-002-0976-7. Epub 2002 Jul 1.
While it is commonly assumed that variation in worker sizes within a single ant colony increases colony efficiency, there is little causal evidence of a link between worker size variation and colony performance. I tested whether the range of worker sizes within colonies of the ant species Formica neorufibarbis affected new worker production. Removing large workers from colonies lowered the rate of new worker production. A study of unmanipulated colonies indicated that colonies did not maintain a full range of worker sizes; mean worker head widths varied from 0.89-1.24 mm. Colonies naturally missing large workers did not have lower rates of worker production, suggesting that the relative size, not the absolute size, of workers within colonies was important. These are the first results to directly link the range of worker sizes to a component of colony fitness in a natural setting.
虽然人们普遍认为，单个蚁群内工蚁大小的差异会提高蚁群效率，但几乎没有因果证据表明工蚁大小差异与蚁群表现之间存在联系。我测试了红褐林蚁蚁群内工蚁大小范围是否会影响新工蚁的产生。从蚁群中移除大型工蚁会降低新工蚁的产生速度。一项对未进行人工干预的蚁群的研究表明，蚁群并未维持完整的工蚁大小范围；工蚁的平均头宽在0.89 - 1.24毫米之间变化。自然缺少大型工蚁的蚁群，其工蚁产生速度并没有降低，这表明蚁群内工蚁的相对大小而非绝对大小才是重要的。这些是首次在自然环境中将工蚁大小范围与蚁群适应性的一个组成部分直接联系起来的结果。
