Ecology and Evolution of Communication in Social Insects

Insect life strategies comprise all levels of sociality from solitary to eusocial, in which individuals form persistent groups and divide labor. With increasing social complexity, the need to communicate a greater diversity of messages arose to coordinate division of labor, group cohesion, and conce...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cell 2016-03, Vol.164 (6), p.1277-1287
Main Authors: Leonhardt, Sara Diana, Menzel, Florian, Nehring, Volker, Schmitt, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Communication
Animals
Behavior, Animal
Biological Evolution
Insecta - classification
Insecta - genetics
Insecta - physiology
Pheromones - metabolism
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Insect life strategies comprise all levels of sociality from solitary to eusocial, in which individuals form persistent groups and divide labor. With increasing social complexity, the need to communicate a greater diversity of messages arose to coordinate division of labor, group cohesion, and concerted actions. Here we summarize the knowledge on prominent messages in social insects that inform about reproduction, group membership, resource locations, and threats and discuss potential evolutionary trajectories of each message in the context of social complexity. Insect life strategies comprise all levels of sociality from solitary to eusocial, in which individuals form persistent groups and divide labor. With increasing social complexity, the need to communicate a greater diversity of messages arose to coordinate division of labor, group cohesion, and concerted actions. Here we summarize the knowledge on prominent messages in social insects that inform about reproduction, group membership, resource locations, and threats and discuss potential evolutionary trajectories of each message in the context of social complexity.
ISSN:0092-8674
1097-4172
DOI:10.1016/j.cell.2016.01.035