What are social insects? Ants are real. III. Learning new material
In this article we will analyze the behavior of bees and ants, their differences and similarities.
For some reason, the phrase “social insects” makes one think that they belong to society. But, in fact, this name was obtained due to the structure and complexity of its behavior. Which insects belong to this group, and how they differ, will be discussed in this material.
What are social insects?
Even a preschooler does not need an explanation of who insects are. To make it clear who these social insects are, watch the ants. The most common red forest ones or the black ones garden insects. Notice how beautifully and harmoniously they move in their anthill.
- Therefore, we can note the first distinguishing feature of social insects - this is presence of families. They do not live alone, but only in large groups. Moreover, each representative has his own role in such a community.
- Polyethism- this is the main feature of social insects. Simply put, this is a division of responsibilities.
- Second distinguishing feature- This presence of castes on sexual and reproductive functions. Social insects may have one queen (that is, monogyny) or several fertile females ( polygyny). But this is reflected in the size of the masonry and size. Even working individuals are smaller in size than such queens.
- At the head of social insects is queen or queen, on whose shoulders lies the responsibility for reproduction and offspring. The entire family with colonies is built around it.
- And for protection there are special soldiers! These representatives do not have the ability to reproduce, but they do have weapons. Namely, the strong stings of bees or the powerful jaws of termites and ants.
- But someone has to feed them too. And this responsibility falls on the shoulders work force, which also cannot produce its offspring. Incredibly, even working representatives are further divided into subspecies depending on the job.
- That is why these groups of insects are closely related to each other. If at least one puzzle falls out, then another part of the picture is lost. After all, some insects protect, others feed, and still others take care of their offspring.
IMPORTANT: Different subspecies of even the same insect species may differ significantly in some rules.
- Housing- here's another difference. Yes, animals and insects are looking for a warm place to spend the winter. But only social insects build such complex and detailed nests. And how they take care of their masonry!
- Such insects can communicate. No, they don't have their own language. More precisely, it is a little peculiar. They use body language and movements more often.
- Bees can dance! But this is not just a desire to warm up, this is how they report the location of the nectar.
- Ants use a sweetish smell that they leave along the necessary path. For example, after an edible find, an ant will leave such a trail to its anthill, informing its relatives about this.
- But the greatest value is the connection between the queen and her subordinates. This is the merit pheromones! Everything in this structure is incredibly subtly thought out. The fact is that this substance is secreted by the larvae. This is how they communicate their hunger. But only the uterus can hear them!
- And only she informs her workforce that they need to bring food supplies. Why, she gives clear instructions about what food is needed and in what quantity. Without the queen, the rest of the representatives will simply die, because they do not know what to do!
- But there are also insects that have a chance to raise a new queen. True, this is a very painstaking and labor-intensive process. The new queen requires special growing conditions, that is, it requires special cells. And she is picky about food.
Now we can make a final and already substantiated conclusion about who social insects are.
Public insects - these are those representatives who lead a public or social lifestyle. As can be seen from the information provided above, they surpass the behavior of other insects and even compete well with the higher classes of the animal kingdom. That is, social insects can create societies. Therefore, the science that studies them is sociobiology.
Features of the complex behavior of social insects: description
In such insects, the development of the brain and nervous system. And this naturally affects the behavior of social insects, distinguishing them from similar loners.
- Brain directly depends on the diversity and mobility of the insect. That is, the more active it is, the more developed and larger the brain is. For example, working ants and productive representatives. The latter insects have a smaller brain size.
- Incredibly, social insects can distinguish shapes and colors! For example, Australian ethologist Karl Frisch conducted experiments on bees. As a result, it was found that they sit on bright colors.
- This aspect has not been fully studied, but insects may be far from their nest, but they will still find their way home. An experiment was conducted with bumblebees, which were placed in boxes at different distances from the house; they were necessarily marked with colored paint. By evening, all the insects were in place.
- They're not just remember the way home, but also go out in search of, for example, nectar with a strictly thought-out plan of action. For example, a bee focuses not only on the relief shape and bright color, but also on the quality of smell.
IMPORTANT: To communicate with each other, social insects use a whole chain of stimuli - these are auditory and visual contacts, chemical, vibration and tactile stimuli.
- These insects have memory and can transfer experience. For example, ants live 1.5-2.5 years and for them this is of important value. Remember the cartoon “Luntik”, ants always have a leader or commander!
- They select those individuals that have good memory and rich experience in order to find a solution in case of incidents. This is exactly what the leader does. They act strictly along the laid out route, but if an obstacle appears on the way, the activist will lead the others behind him, bypassing it.
- Moreover, such insects can even think logically and find solutions from difficult situations. An experiment was conducted (again on ants) when a small dose of radiation (up to 10 R/h) was delivered to their nest. This lasted for 3 years. And to reduce the incoming dose, the ants built a covered road.
- Social insects form and develop faster conditioned reflexes. This is another confirmation of the development of their memory and ability to draw conclusions. They have such a divided and thoughtful work of each representative that it requires certain skills. And this indicates a good ability to learn.
- They have a goal and are moving towards achieving it! They work so well together that they easily compete even with higher animals. Even a person can develop some skills for himself.
- They have incredible caring for offspring. The queen devotes herself and her entire life to caring for them. And in case of urgent need and threat to her offspring, she will sacrifice herself without hesitation.
- Even look at the anthill again, they don’t leave their cocoons close to the entrance, but lower them to other floors. If the house is in danger, they will take them out first!
IMPORTANT: Social insects have a chain of complex reflexes that are responsible for their instinct.
- In addition to memory, the ability to remember and think, as well as to draw logical conclusions, among the species of even one family of insects, there are “stupid” and “smart” individuals.
- It is also worth highlighting such a quality of social insects as thriftiness. Like ants and bees, they stock up on food.
- And that's not all, because they are able to share it among themselves. Yes, this is the result organized work in the caste. But it is also a kind of concern for surrounding family members.
Some illustrative examples.
Ants
- They are able to conclude "pact of friendship". Their relationship with aphids is known. The ants protect it and provide some fresh shoots for their food, and also take care of the winter. But in exchange for this they collect their sweet excrement for their food. It is somewhat reminiscent of cattle breeding.
- But there are ants who are engaged agriculture. For example, leaf cutters carry spores of some fungi along with leaf reserves. They plant them in an anthill and then eat them.
- Here are the tropical Amazon ants taken into slavery other insects. More precisely, they steal their eggs or tiny individuals. And from these babies they raise a workforce. Similar behavior is observed in other ant species. By the way, they can also attack neighboring anthills.
- And some species of ants, for example foragers, have pension. Yes, over time they move from active representatives to passive observers. But they pass on the collected traditions and experience to the younger generation. And in the event of devastation, pensioners are able to restore everything again.
Wasps
- Beetle wasps exhibit interesting behavior during the rain. The fact is that their house is covered with aspen paper, through which drops of water pass. Therefore, insects absorb it and then spit it out.
- But Westin wasps can heat your masonry abdominal movements. They begin to dance, as if performing a belly dance. And thus, the temperature can rise by a whole degree.
Termites
- You can call them real architects. Even though their work seems chaotic and uncoordinated, the result will please the eye. After all, their buildings not only have simple form, but can be in the form of arches, canopies or entire corridors. And do not forget that termites are completely blind, so they carry out their projects purely with the help of instincts.
- Some of their species are capable of self-destruction. If a worker is attacked, it can literally explode. In this case, the enemy will be attacked by sticky mucus. It is not dangerous, but is distracting.
Bees
- They surprise not only with their dance, but also with the presence of emotions. Even through dance movements, they are able to accurately indicate where the food supply is. And also show your character.
- And many of their worker representatives die as a result of defending their colony. After all, they leave a sting in the body of the enemy, after which they die along with him.
bumblebees
- Among these representatives there are “cuckoos”. The fact is that these types of insects throw their eggs into another clutch. Of course, they choose other bumblebee families rather than a colony of ants. Cuckoo insects do not have their own workers. Children grow up in a “foster” family, along with other children on an equal basis.
How do social insects differ from solitary insects: comparison, similarities and differences
Based on the above material, one can already draw one precise conclusion - solitary insects live separately, but public representatives - only large families. Similar characteristics include the production of food, the need for it, as well as the defense of the territory and their offspring. It should also be noted that other insects also use sound signals or gestures to communicate during the mating season. It’s just that social insects have slightly improved characteristics.
- But none of them can survive on their own. The role of each “member” of the family is so thought out and organized that he acts as the missing puzzle. And without it you won’t get a complete picture. For example, bees build families of up to 60 thousand - 100 thousand individuals.
- And that is why such a large community is able to build big house. For example, some anthills can reach several meters in depth (according to some sources, even up to 10 m). And what kind of termite mounds are found in nature that a single person cannot do? The highest termite mounds reached 9 m.
- These houses increase the safety of not only the adults, but also the babies and clutches. In solitary species such care for the offspring is not observed. For social insects, the future generation, as well as food supplies in general, come first.
- In that huge house, where every road, descent or honeycomb is thought out, and temperature and humidity are also regulated. Again, it's all about maintaining optimal conditions masonry But only social insects can create such a microclimate due to their large numbers.
- Such a family can attack large prey, and this will help make a significant supply of food.
- Coordinated work helps social insects defend themselves from enemies. Single representatives are weaker in this matter.
- Well, the main difference is polymorphism. That is, the presence of a uterus that deals only with offspring. The queen is only engaged in masonry. Although, for example, in some species of termites the uterus is not even able to move independently. This protects her as much as possible from any dangers, ensuring a higher birth rate.
Which insects can and cannot be classified as social?
It is easier to name those representatives that may belong to social insects. All others, if they do not have the above characteristics social life, are classified as single individuals.
- Ants- Almost all of their species belong to social insects. They bring great benefits to the forest, protecting it from enemies. Characterized by large anthills, which consist of above-ground and underground parts
- In the center there is a wingless queen (she loses her wings after the mating season) and spends her entire life only laying eggs.
- Working representatives clean the clutch, the queen and bring her food.
- Soldiers stand out large sizes and powerful jaws, whose task is to protect the colony.
- Bees They have only one queen, which controls them. They do not have soldiers, but they do have drones that fertilize the uterus. After mating they die. All work, including feeding the queen, falls on the shoulders of the workers.
- Wasps They live only one summer. Only fertilized females remain for the winter. The housing is also used only for one year. They build it from wood and their own saliva.
- bumblebees have the same signs of social life. But it is worth highlighting that the sting can be not only in working individuals, but also in the uterus. By the way, it does not have serrations, so insects can use it repeatedly.
- Termites live in termite mounds, and their family can number up to 1 million individuals. The queen of this species can live up to 10 years, and workers differ in that they can be of both sexes. Their main task is order in the “house”.
Social insects have 5 main types Some are observed characteristic features social behavior in the following insects:
- earwigs - they are characterized by the female caring for her offspring
- bedbugs that live in large families
- and even in aphids that come into contact with ants
- crickets and Japanese bedbugs bring food for their larvae
- Thrips have the highest social degree of life. They also build families of almost 200 thousand individuals, create trails with a characteristic smell and take care of their clutches
IMPORTANT: Only ants are completely classified as social group. All other insects belong to the class Hymenoptera. Since they are characterized by all transitions from a solitary lifestyle to social behavior.
Video: Social insects: the secret of collective intelligence
1. What behavioral and lifestyle features are typical for the inhabitants of an anthill?
Most of the ants living in the anthill are wingless workers - these are sterile females. Their number sometimes reaches a million. Besides them, the queen lives in the anthill. She also doesn't have wings. She breaks them off after the mating flight. She lays eggs all her life, and all the care for the anthill lies with the working ants. They obtain food, repair and clean the anthill, feed the larvae and the queen, and defend the anthill in case of attack by enemies. Once a year, at the beginning of summer, winged females and males appear in the anthill from the pupae and set off on a mating flight. After mating, the males die, and the females shed their wings and establish a new anthill.
Most ants are predators. Some feed on the sweet secretions of aphids. To do this, ants preserve and “graze” these insects that feed on plants, and sometimes build shelters for them. Other types of ants breed mushrooms in underground chambers to feed on them, bringing in crushed plant leaves. There are herbivorous ants. Ants communicate by touching each other's antennae, legs and heads. In addition, they have a “chemical language” - they secrete special substances with which they mark their paths. Ants recognize relatives and enemies by smell.
2. Describe the composition of the bee colony and the functions of each group of bees.
A large family of bees numbers up to 100 thousand individuals that live in a hive. In a hive, most insects are worker bees. These are sterile females in which the modified ovipositor serves as a stinger. They clean the hive, collect nectar, care for the queen and larvae, and protect the hive from enemies. They live only one season (about a year). In a bee family, the main bee is the queen bee, who lays eggs - up to 2000 per day. She lives for about five years. In the spring, in May-June, a new queen and several dozen males, called drones, appear in the bee colony from the pupae: they do not take any part in the work, and their main task is to fertilize the queen. The old female with some of the worker bees leaves the hive - swarming occurs. Beekeepers collect the swarm and place it in a new hive. In the fall, worker bees drive the remaining drones out of the hive and they die.
3. Why are ants and bees classified as social insects? Explain their meaning in nature and in human life.
Most insects lead a solitary lifestyle. Bees and ants organize communities that represent one big family. Within a family there are separate groups that perform different functions.
4. Based on what characteristics are the silkworm classified as domestic animals? What is the value in economic activity does this insect have a person?
This is the only fully domesticated insect that is not found in nature in the wild.
Silk secreted by silkworms is used in light industry to produce fabrics, in medicine (it is used to make threads for stitching wounds) and in aviation.
Lesson on the topic “Bees and ants are social insects”
Target:
- highlight the structural features of the honey bee and ant in connection with their social way of life;
Show the role in nature and significance in human life; prove the need to protect these insects;
- broaden the horizons of students.
Teaching methods : reproductive, search, research, collective decision-making method
Lesson type: learning new material.
Class organization form : educational project.
Project typology : information and research, short-term.
Equipment: multimedia projector, presentation “Bees and ants are social insects,” books, handouts, flashcards.
Form of organization of work in the classroom : class-lesson, group, individual.
Lesson content:
I . Organizing time (Mutual greetings between students and teachers, recording absentees, checking students’ readiness for the lesson)
Call stage:
Before I tell you the topic of today's lesson, I will ask you riddles, and you must guess what they are about. we'll talk at the lesson.
1. I smell like summer and pollen.
I'm flying towards the flowers like a bullet.
But I can be very angry.
To the one who climbs into the hive!
2. In a clearing near the fir trees The house is built from needles. He is not visible behind the grass, And there are a million residents there.
II .Preparation for the main stage of assimilation educational material . Activation background knowledge and skills.
- In previous lessons, we began to study the most numerous type of animals - the Arthropod type.What signs of this type are observed in bees and ants? (I listen to the children’s answers).
Jointed limbs
Presence of chitinous cover.
To what class would you classify these animals?
(to the class Insects).
As you already understood, the heroes of our lesson will bebees and ants.
Due to the fact that there is a lot of information about these insects, we will study this topic as part of the project.
Project goals:
Study the systematic position of the honey bee and ant;
study the structure of the honey bee;
study polymorphism in the hive and anthill; find signs of similarities and differences;
study the importance of bees and ants in nature and human life; insect protection;
study the history of beekeeping;
draw a conclusion why bees and ants are classified as social animals;
present our project.
III .Stages of work on the project.
1. 3 groups of students are formed:
Each group receives an instruction card with a plan for studying the topic area printed on it. Answer sheets.
Today's lesson will work in groups
“Theorists”, 2 “Beekeepers”, 3 “Biologists”.
We ask group participants to remember the rules of working in a group and respect the time.
20 minutes are allotted for group work, the speaker’s speaking time is 3-4 minutes.
Please start by reading the instruction sheet.
I wish you good luck.
Instructional card "THEORETICS"
Target: study the systematic position of the honey bee and ant, find out their significance in nature and human life, and propose measures for the protection of insects.
1. Systematic position of the bee and ant.
2. External structure of a bee:
Take a closer look at the structure of a worker bee in Fig. 1 ( reference material) and answer the questions?
What sections is the bee's body divided into?
How many pairs of wings?
How many pairs of legs?
What sense organs are different on a bee's head?
Features in the structure of the hind legs. What do you think they are for?
3. What is the importance of bees and ants in nature and human life.
4. Suggest measures to protect insects.
5. Conclude why bees and ants are called social insects?
Instructional card "Beekeepers"
Target: study the history of beekeeping.
1. Where could we find out information that the bee has become a human pet since time immemorial?
3. What beekeeping products were used to pay tribute, duties and taxes?
4. What did the ancient Slavs use instead of sugar, and what for light?
5. What was the name of ancient beekeeping?
6. What did the Ukrainian landowner Pyotr Ivanovich Prokopovich invent in 1814?
7.Draw a conclusion that reflects the importance of bees in nature and human life.
Instructional card "Biologists"
Target: study polymorphism in the hive and anthill; find signs of similarities and differences.
Theoretical part.
1. Polymorphism of the bee colony.
2. Polymorphism of the ant family.
3. What is swarming called? What is its biological role?
Practical part.
Using the textbook material pp. 135-136 and reference material, fill out the table"Polymorphism of bees and ants"
Signs of comparison.
Polymorphism of bees and ants
Uterus
bees
Uterus
ant
Drone
Male ant
worker bee
Worker ants
1. Body dimensions.
l = 18-20 mmm = 0.25 g
Up to 50 mm
l = 15-16 mmm = 0.2 g
Up to 50 mm
l = 12-14 mmm = 0.1 g
2 mm
2. Number of individuals in the family.
1
2 or more
Some
dozens
From several tens to several hundred
70 000
From several tens to a million
3. Lifespan.
Up to 5 years
12-20 years
1 season
Several days, weeks
1 season
Up to 3 years
4. Structural features.
Large bee, long pointed abdomen; associated with its reproductive function
similar to workers, but differ from them in the structure of the chest and more large sizes. Have wings that bite themselves off after fertilization
medium-sized bee with very large eyes , touching at the back of the head,abdomen rounded
Develop from unfertilized eggs and have wings
on hind legsbaskets , on the abdomen there are speculums, an expansion of the esophagus - a honeypot; at the end of the abdomensting
Females with an underdeveloped reproductive system , They have no wings, a simplified chest structure, eyes smaller than those of females, or absent
5. Functions performed.
Pairing
and laying eggs
Mating
And laying eggs
Fertilization
females
Fertilization of the female
Cleaning cells, feeding the queen and larvae, building honeycombs, scouting, collecting food, protecting the hive.
Taking care of the family (Guards, “nannies”, cleaning the nest, etc.)
Answer the questions?
1. Give the concept of polymorphism?
2. Conclude what polymorphism is in bees and ants and what this is connected with.
2. Search for information.
Students are asked to find answers to the questions indicated on the instruction card. Students work with a textbook and additional literature.
3. Information processing .
Students in groups fill out answer cards, prepare a speech - defending a project, and select a speaker from their group.
4. Project protection.
Representatives of each group present their work, talk about their achievements, and draw conclusions:
1. The bee and the products of its vital activity are of great practical importance. But the most great importance The activity of bees is manifested in the pollination of plants.
2. A bee family consists of a queen, drones and worker bees. Responsibilities are distributed between them in the family.
4. The structural features of a worker bee are related to its “professional” responsibilities.
5. The bee and the ant are “social” insects with complex instinctive behavior, in their caring care for the “baby”, in the appropriateness of the division of labor between family members, in their amazing art of construction
IV . Homework.
Tasks to choose from:
Prepare reports about the silkworm
Silk production
Insects listed in the Red Book.
V . Lesson summary and reflection.
You guys did a great job.
I'm making my comment. And I propose to briefly answer the questions
What's your mood?
Please continue the sentence
It was interesting to me…
Today we figured it out...
I realized today that...
It was difficult for me...
Tomorrow I want in class...
show all
Features of the behavior of social insects
The behavior of insects is determined by a set of conditioned and unconditioned reflexes, instincts, taxis and tropisms (you can read more about this).
Social insects, living in colonies and complexly interacting with each other, have all these components of behavior, but their instincts are most strongly expressed - long chains of reflexes that are launched one after another in a kind of “domino effect”. Sometimes instinctive behavior determines such complex sets of actions that it is difficult to believe that ants, termites, bees and wasps lack the ability to think and fully communicate with each other.
For the manifestation of instincts and others complex shapes Behavior is controlled by special areas of the brain. In many social insects, these areas are very well developed and increased in size relative to the rest. For example, the so-called mushroom bodies, responsible for integrating information received from the senses, occupy one sixth of the brain volume in the honey bee, and one third in the Formica ant. Their brain itself is also more developed than other insects.
Key Features The behaviors of social insects are as follows:
This can be illustrated by another experiment. A small forest ant was installed near the road special device: two chambers, two curtains covering each of these chambers, and two threads connected to the curtains. If an ant pulled one thread, the curtain opened and the insect received sugar syrup as a reward in the chamber. There was nothing behind the other curtain. The ants quickly realized what was happening and opened the chamber containing the syrup more than 60 times per hour. Moreover, sometimes some ants pulled the thread, holding the curtain open and giving others the right to feast on the syrup.
Another feature is that social insects can purposefully and harmoniously carry out one general work necessary for the interests of the colony. They build anthills, obtain food, lay eggs and care for them in accordance with some kind of unspoken agreement in which each member of the community is assigned a certain role. (photo)
Behavior and caste division
It would be impossible to ensure the autonomous existence of a colony if all insects in the group had “equal rights.” Therefore, within a family, social insects are usually divided into castes - subgroups, whose representatives perform specific tasks. Using the example of bees, you can see that in a hive there is only one queen who lays eggs, several drones who fertilize her, and all other individuals are worker bees. They are responsible for life support, storing food, caring for eggs, etc. Accordingly, these three subgroups have absolutely different models behavior. The community structure of ants is even more complex. In some genera and species of ants, among the working individuals, “scouts”, “foragers”, “warriors”, “water carriers”, “nannies”, etc. are distinguished. In total, in one anthill there can be up to 11 castes, and they behave accordingly differently.
The behavior of social insects in general is very complex. But within each family, the “actions” of its individual members are more similar than the actions of different insects of the same species leading a solitary lifestyle. This is explained by the fact that insects in a group live in approximately the same conditions, so they develop similar conditioned reflexes and form similar life experiences.
However, each insect of the family is unique. It has been found that learning ability and other innate qualities vary among different members of a community, even within the same caste. In other words, just like among people, among ants, bees, etc. There are “stupid” and “smart”. Their behavior is different.
Wasps
There are many more examples of how surprising the behavior of social insects can be. But even these examples make us convinced that in their development, representatives of the class Insecta sometimes even surpass organisms at higher stages of evolution. It is precisely the behavioral features of social insects that to this day force some experts to express the opinion that, probably, along with everything else (reflexes, instincts, etc.), insects have rudimentary forms of rational activity.
