Superorganisms

Superorganism presentation for EST 582 at SUNY Stony Brook. Created by David Knuffke, April 2009.

Superorganisms
aka:  "ant colonies, termite colonies and bee hives"
What Are They?
Why Are They?
How Do They Work?
The "Hive Mind"
The most highly organized social structure found in insects.
Characterized by:
1.  Tightly structured and regulated divison of labor.
     aka "castes."
2.  Very few (usually one) reproducing members.
The Queen!
A persistent evolutionary advantage.
The specialization of members allows for an eerie parallel:
Which Leads to
A High Degree of Genetic Relatedness in the Colony (more about this later)
Every Ant and Egg in This Photo is The Offspring of a Single Queen
Anyone want to guess?
3.  Elaborate Systems of Communication.
ex.  pheromones in ants.
ex.  "waggle dance" in bees.
Just as there is an apparent advantage to multicellularity,
so too there is an advantage to superorganismal organization.
Individual actions are highly stereotypical
Altruism
Colony members perform actions according to algorithms, determined by the interaction of genes, caste and environment.
The evolution of superorganisms allows for a large degree of morphological divergence among colony members.  
Divergence leads to specialization 
All of these happy looking species (and several hundred others) were found in a small patch of Costa Rica:
Camponotus JHB01
Major Worker:
Minor Worker:
Major Worker:
Minor Worker:
Camponotus JHB03
Stare too long, and you 
risk falling in love!
These algorithms determine all actions taken by the individual.
All of these ladies are genetically identical!
Behavior that is detrimental to the individual, but beneficial to other colony members
Why???
A.  They have to.
B.   A Consequence of Relatedness.
Who can name the systems concept demonstrated by altruism?
"It's a(n)...
Emergent Property!
A Potent Combination of Drugs and Genes Respond to the Environment with Facility.
Emergent Property!
The Problem of Cheating
"My Name is Legion: for we are many"
The phrase used to describe the emergent behavior of the superorganism.
It develops from the sum of all of the individual actions in the colony.
Typically, "Hive Mind" behaviors result from feedback systems established throughout the colony:
ex.  An ant finds a food source and puts down a chemical trail.        
       More ants follow this trail to the food source, leading to a    
       stronger trail.       
       This process continues until the food is depleted, and the  
        trail dissipates.
ex.  A bee finds nectar, returns to the hive and waggles.
       The bees nearby get the message.
       The number of correct wagglers increases.
       Once the nectar source is depleted, waggling in its 
       direction gradually ceases in the colony.
ex.  following simple rules, in response to pheromones, temperature and other environmental signals, termites build incredibly large nest mounds, that conserve moisture, heat and air condition where needed. 
This mound took many years, and many thousands of termite generations to build.
Why Should We Care?
Social systems are ripe environments for the evolution of "cheaters":  individuals who don't follow the group rules.
Cheaters risk the fitness of the superorganism to increase their own, individual fitness.
Many "anti-cheating" strategies have evolved to deal with this issue:
ex.  worker ant females sometimes start laying their own eggs... which
       are promptly eaten by the other, "loyal" females.
Let's Play "Spot The Deadbeat!"
Can you say "Negative Feedback?"
Tastes like chicken?
A.  Insects are cool (duh!)
B.  The parallel between multicellularity and superorganism structure may yield insights.
C.  How does conciousness arise from a mass of neurons?

“Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labor, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television.”
                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      -  Lewis Thomas
D.  The spontaneous structure of "ground-up" organizations.
E.  Humans - A mammalian superorganism?
I Want To Learn More ("References")
"The Ants" by Bert Holldobler & E.O. Wilson
"The Superorganism" by Bert Holldobler & E.O. Wilson
"The Insect Societies" by E.O. Wilson
"The Wisdom of the Hive" by Thomas D. Seeley
...To say nothing of the internet(s)!
Could this video be any more alarmist?
Hive Mind activities are "ground-up" in origin.
There are no leaders or directors. 
The Macro action is the collective result of millions 
 of micro decisions made by the colony members.
Always:
Watch Out, They Sting!
Taking one for the team!
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“For so work the honey-bees, creatures that by a rule in nature teach the act of order 
to a peopled kingdom.”

                                                                                                                -  William Shakespeare