EEB 3269
Social Insects

Offered every other year, spring semester
Next offered: Spring 2010

3 credits; meeting times: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9:00 - 9:50 AM

This course covers the biology of social insects, especially the "eusocial" (truly social) wasps, bees, ants, and termites.  These animals are remarkable for several characteristics, which serve as the basis for exploration of general principles about the evolution of social behavior, the nature of communication, self-organization, and population and community ecology.  We will cover four major topics:

• The diversity of social insects.  A survey of the life histories, phylogeny, and social organization of the major groups of social insects.  The social lives of insects are compared to those of highly social vertebrates.

• The control of reproduction.  Eusocial insect colonies display reproductive division of labor.  In extreme cases, millions of non-reproductive workers labor their entire lives to support reproduction by a single reproductive female -- the queen -- and her mates.  How has this pattern evolved?  Major themes include kin selection, and the mix of competition and cooperation that characterizes animal societies.

• Individual and collective action.  We will explore the behavioral capabilities of social insects at the individual and group levels, including the mechanisms of communication, foraging, defense, and orientation.  How does the behavior of the group arise from the decisions and interactions of individuals? 
  

• The ecology of social insects.  Social insects are among the most abundant animals in terrestrial ecosystems and collectively outweigh solitary insects in many habitats.  Topics covered include population dynamics and spatial patterns of social insects, their interactions with other organisms (as predators, hosts to parasites, pollinators, etc.), the organization of communities, and the importance of social insects to humans.