Effects of sperm on female longevity in the bumble-bee Bombus terrestris L. :"In the bumble-bee Bombus terrestris, the male genotype influences female longevity even though B. terrestris generally is a singly mated species and male and female interests may thus be more convergent. "

Grozinger et al., published online, PNAS: Pheromone-mediated gene expression in the honey bee brain : "QMP consistently activated 'nursing genes' and repressed 'foraging genes,' suggesting that QMP may delay behavioral maturation by regulating genes in the brain that produce these behavioral states. "

Blackwell Synergy - Oikos, Vol 103, Issue 3, pp. 688-694: The effect of food supplementation on reproductive success in bumblebee field colonies (Abstract): "colonies ensure reproduction by producing some males and, given the opportunity (sufficient food availability), will produce gynes"

Blackwell Synergy - Oikos, Vol 103, Issue 3, pp. 469-478: Colonisation by a dominant ant facilitated by anthropogenic disturbance: effects on ant assemblage composition, biomass and resource use (Abstract): "In areas with Iridomyrmex purpureus, seeds were removed more rapidly from rock, but not vegetation, indicating that resources on rock may be under-exploited by other species. Regulation of invaded ant assemblages by this dominant ant is thus limited to functionally similar species, and this may be due to its use of resources that are unexploited in its absence."

Blackwell Synergy - Mol Ecol, Vol 12, Issue 11, pp. 3157-3164: Estimating effective paternity number in social insects and the effective number of alleles in a population (Abstract)

Blackwell Synergy - Mol Ecol, Vol 12, Issue 11, pp. 3057-3068: The distribution and evolutionary history of Wolbachia infection in native and introduced populations of the invasive argentine ant (Linepithema humile) (Abstract)

Blackwell Synergy - Mol Ecol, Vol 12, Issue 11, pp. 2931-2940: Conservation genetics of the wood ant, Formica lugubris, in a fragmented landscape (Abstract)

Entrez-PubMed: "Complex hybrid origin of genetic caste determination in harvester ants."

Entrez-PubMed: "Determinants of intracolonial relatedness in Pogonomyrmex rugosus (Hymenoptera; Formicidae): mating frequency and brood raids."

Notes from Underground: Culturing queens and colonies in the ant genus Pogonomyrmex:
"This note details one of the more successful and visually rewarding methods for starting with a queen and successfully rearing a colony of Pogonomyrmex. "

ScienceDirect - International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture : Optimization of multi-pass turning operations using ant colony system: "This paper proposes a new optimization technique based on the ant colony algorithm for solving multi-pass turning optimization problems.The natural metaphor on which ant algorithms are based is that of ant colonies. Researchers are fascinated by seeing the ability of the almost blind ants in establishing the shortest route from their nests to the food source and back. These ants secrete a substance, called a ‘pheromone’ and use its trails as a medium for communicating information among each other. The probability of the trail being followed by other ants is enhanced by increased trail deposition of others following this trail. This co-operative search behavior of real ants inspired the new computational paradigm for optimizing real-lifesystems and it is suited for solving large-scale optimization problems. "

QUEEN SIZE MEDIATES QUEEN SURVIVAL AND COLONY FITNESS IN HARVESTER ANTS: "In the ant Pogonomyrmex occidentalis large queens are significantly more likely to survive than small queens through the initial stages of colony founding. These differences in individual fitness correlates have corresponding effects on colony fitness. In species in which individual queens vary in fitness, sexual allocation ratios should incorporate the individual fitness functions."

The Ant Farm's Message Board @ www.ezboard.com

Webshots Community - Harvesting ant

Webshots Community - ready to fly