computer science

Insect social networks

Insect social networks is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Insect social networks rather than just read about it. In short: The social networks of colonies of social insects have been extensively studied as model biological networks. Across taxonomy In hymenopterans Ant social networks have three main types of individuals or castes.

Key takeaways

Insect social networks belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Insect social networks to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Insect social networks from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The social networks of colonies of social insects have been extensively studied as model biological networks.

Across taxonomy

In hymenopterans Ant social networks have three main types of individuals or castes. The three types - the queen, workers, and drones - all serve a specific purpose within the colony. The queen is the reproductive member of the colony. Some ant species will only have one queen, while others will form polygynous colonies of multiple queens, such as Argentine ants Linepithema humile. The workers are responsible for supporting the queen, maintenance, and foraging. Unlike queens and drones, workers are born wingless. Some polymorphic ants can have workers who look morphologically very different from each other, with specific jobs and behaviours. Examples of these polymorphisms can be seen in the big-headed ants Pheidole dentata, where the different castes of workers (majors with large heads and minors with regular sized heads) increase colony efficiency and what the colony is able to accomplish. The drones are the only males in ant social structures, and have little to do with colony activities. Their sole purpose is to transport DNA. The drones leave the colony on a nuptial flight or mating flight, find a virgin queen to reproduce with, and then die shortly after.

Bee and wasp social structure is very similar to that of ants, except all of the members have wings. Both bees and ants communicate effectively using pheromone methods. For example, honey bees use brooding pheromone to increase eggs laid by the queen. Unlike ants, bees also use "dance language". This very complex behaviour allows foraging bees to communicate to their sisters the location of resources and dangers in the foraging space all through dancing movements. However, inside the dark chambers of the nest itself, complex pheromone systems are used to communicate and organize the group.

In blattodea Termites, in the order Blattodea, also have an advanced social network. The termite social network evolved separately from the Hymenoptera, and has some key differences. Instead of just a reproductive queen, termites have a reproductive royal pair, the king and queen, that stay in the colony to produce offspring. The other colony members are divided into workers and soldiers. Workers and soldiers can be male or female, and lack wings, eyes, and developed sex organs, unlike the reproductive members. Workers perform all of the colony's maintenance, such as caring for young, cleaning, building tunnels, and feeding the other members. The primary goal of the soldiers is to defend and guard the entrance to the colony.

Trophallaxis networks The network of trophallaxis events differs from the network of social contacts. In the trophallaxis network of Lasius niger, foragers have higher betweenness and centrality than domestic workers. The domestic workers appear to form three clusters. There also appear to be some domestic workers which act as intermediaries between foragers and other domestic workers.

Recruitment networks In some species, during nest emigration, there is a minority of workers who actively search for new nest sites. When they find a promising site they recruit nest-mates to show them the site. The nest-mates can in turn recruit more workers and when a critical mass of ants moves back and forth between the old site and a particular new site then the whole colony moves. Recruitment generally occurs via tandem running, and the emigration process can be modelled as a directed network where edges connect workers who performed a tandem run together, and the directionality shows which worker led and which worker followed. The density and complexity of these networks appear to increase with indecision, and the core of the networks consists predominantly of the subcaste of workers specialised in finding new sites and recruiting other workers.

Disease prevention Living in large colonies in confined spaces creates a risk of pathogen spreading. Insects in social networks show many anti-pathogen behaviours to prevent the spread of infection. An example of this behaviour is the pathogen alarm behaviour in termites. If a termite detects itself being infected with pathogen spores, it will produce a vibratory signal to warn the other colony members to stay away from it to prevent the spread of the fungi.

See also Task allocation and partitioning in social insects

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Insect social networks

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Insect social networks claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Insect social networks before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Insect social networks ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Insect social networks

In research: Insect social networks appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Insect social networks in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Insect social networks is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Behavioral ecology, Insect behavior, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Insect social networks outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Insect social networks in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Insect social networks means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Insect social networks out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Insect social networks in simple terms?

The social networks of colonies of social insects have been extensively studied as model biological networks. Across taxonomy In hymenopterans Ant social networks have three main types of individuals or castes.

Why does Insect social networks matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Insect social networks?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Insect social networks.