Department of Biochemistry, Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany; Institute for Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, Germany.
University of Bremen, Institute of Ecology, Population- and Evolutionary Ecology Group, Germany; University of Goettingen, J.F. Blumenbach Institute of Zoology, Animal Ecology Group, Germany.
Curr Opin Insect Sci. 2017 Aug;22:92-100. doi: 10.1016/j.cois.2017.06.003. Epub 2017 Jun 15.
Fitness-determining interactions with microbes-in particular fungi-have often been considered a by-product of social evolution in insects. Here, we take the view that both beneficial and harmful microbial consortia are major drivers of social behaviours in many insect systems-ranging from aggregation to eusociality. We propose evolutionary feedbacks between the insect sociality and microbial communities that strengthen mutualistic interactions with beneficial (dietary or defensive) microbes and simultaneously increase the capacity to defend against pathogens (i.e. social immunity). We identified variation in habitat stability-as determined by breeding site predictability and ephemerality-as a main ecological factor that constrains these feedbacks. To test this hypothesis we suggest following the evolution of insect social traits upon experimental manipulation of habitat stability and microbial consortia.
在昆虫的社会进化过程中，与微生物（尤其是真菌）的适应相互作用通常被认为是一个副产品。在这里，我们认为有益和有害的微生物共生体都是许多昆虫系统中社会行为的主要驱动因素——从聚集到真社会性。我们提出了昆虫社会性和微生物群落之间的进化反馈，这种反馈加强了与有益（饮食或防御）微生物的互利相互作用，同时提高了抵御病原体的能力（即社会免疫力）。我们确定了栖息地稳定性的变化——由繁殖地的可预测性和短暂性决定——作为限制这些反馈的主要生态因素。为了验证这一假设，我们建议在实验性地操纵栖息地稳定性和微生物共生体的情况下，观察昆虫社会特征的进化。
