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Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers >
Graduate School of Agriculture / Faculty of Agriculture >
Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, etc >
Lazy workers are necessary for long-term sustainability in insect societies
This item is licensed under:Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
| Title: | Lazy workers are necessary for long-term sustainability in insect societies |
| Authors: | Hasegawa, Eisuke Browse this author →KAKEN DB | | Ishii, Yasunori Browse this author | | Tada, Koichiro Browse this author | | Kobayashi, Kazuya Browse this author | | Yoshimura, Jin Browse this author |
| Issue Date: | 2016 |
| Publisher: | Nature Publishing Group |
| Journal Title: | Scientific Reports |
| Volume: | 6 |
| Start Page: | 20846 |
| Publisher DOI: | 10.1038/srep20846 |
| Abstract: | Optimality theory predicts the maximization of productivity in social insect colonies, but many inactive workers are found in ant colonies. Indeed, the low short-term productivity of ant colonies is often the consequence of high variation among workers in the threshold to respond to task-related stimuli. Why is such an inefficient strategy among colonies maintained by natural selection? Here, we show that inactive workers are necessary for the long-term sustainability of a colony. Our simulation shows that colonies with variable thresholds persist longer than those with invariable thresholds because inactive workers perform the critical function of replacing active workers when they become fatigued. Evidence of the replacement of active workers by inactive workers has been found in ant colonies. Thus, the presence of inactive workers increases the long-term persistence of the colony at the expense of decreasing short-term productivity. Inactive workers may represent a bet-hedging strategy in response to environmental stochasticity. |
| Rights: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Type: | article |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2115/61238 |
| Appears in Collections: | 農学院・農学研究院 (Graduate School of Agriculture / Faculty of Agriculture) > 雑誌発表論文等 (Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, etc)
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Submitter: 長谷川 英祐
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