38:
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are not as specialised. As the colony grows, more workers emerge, and the division of labor becomes more pronounced. Some individuals may specialise in tasks like foraging, defense, or tending to the brood, while others may take on general tasks within the nest. These specialised tasks can change throughout the life of a worker.
451:
Individuals in social colonies and modular organisms receive benefit to such a lifestyle. For example, it may be easier to seek out food, defend a nesting site, or increase competitive ability against other species. Modular organisms' ability to reproduce asexually in addition to sexually allows them
428:
At a certain point in the colony ontogeny, usually after a period of growth and maturation, the colony produces reproductives, including new virgin queens (princesses) and males. These individuals have the potential to leave the nest and start new colonies, ensuring the transmission of the gene pool
419:
This is also known as the ergonomic stage. As the eggs laid by the foundresses develop, they give rise to the first generation of workers. These workers can assume various tasks, such as foraging, brood care, and nest maintenance. Initially, the worker population is relatively small, and their tasks
91:
have indeterminate growth forms (life stages not set) through repeated iteration of genetically identical modules (or individuals), and it can be difficult to distinguish between the colony as a whole and the modules within. In the latter case, modules may have specific functions within the colony.
410:
In this initial stage, a single female individual or small group of female individuals, often called the foundress(es), queen(s) (and kings for termites) or primary reproductive(s), establish a new colony. The foundresses build a basic nest structure and begin to lay eggs. The foundresses can also
401:
During colony ontogeny for eusocial insects such as ants and bees, a colony goes through several distinct phases, each characterised by specific behavioural patterns, division of labor, and structural modifications. While the exact details can vary depending on the species, the general progression
397:
and progression of a colony. It describes the various stages and changes that occur within a colony from its initial formation to its mature state. The exact duration and dynamics of colony ontogeny can vary greatly depending on the species and environmental conditions. Factors such as resource
455:
The energy required for sexual reproduction varies based on the frequency and length of reproductive activity, number and size of offspring, and parental care. While solitary individuals bear all of those energy costs, individuals in some social colonies share a portion of those costs.
459:
Modular organisms save energy by using asexual reproduction during their life. Energy reserved in this way allows them to put more energy towards colony growth, regenerating lost modules (due to predation or other cause of death), or response to environmental conditions.
277:
go through the process of pedal laceration in which a genetically identical individual is asexually produced from tissue broken off from the anemone's pedal disc. In plants, clonal colonies are created through the propagation of genetically identical individuals by
437:
Over time, colonies may go through a senescence phase where the reproductive output declines, and the colony's overall vitality diminishes. Eventually, the colony may die off or be replaced by a new generation of reproductives. After the death of the queen in a
333:), when present, designates ramet responsibilities such as feeding, reproduction, and defense. To that end, being physically connected allows the colonial organism to distribute nutrients and energy obtained by feeding zooids throughout the colony. The
442:
colony, possible fates other than colony death include serial polygyny (when a virgin queen of the colony replaces the dead queen as the primary reproductive) or colony inheritance (when a worker takes over as primary reproductive).
272:
is when the ramets of a genet live in close proximity or are physically connected. Ramets may have all of the functions needed to survive on their own or be interdependent on other ramets. For example, some
65:
individuals living in close association with, or connected to, one another. This association is usually for mutual benefit such as stronger defense or the ability to attack bigger prey.
177:
are many unicellular organisms that aggregate to form colonies when food resources are hard to come by, as together they are more reactive to chemical cues released by preferred prey.
72:
is a cluster of identical cells (clones). These colonies often form and grow on the surface of (or within) a solid medium, usually derived from a single parent cell.
37:
99:
do not associate with colonies; they are ones in which all individuals live independently and have all of the functions needed to survive and reproduce.
691:"When to bee social: interactions among environmental constraints, incentives, guarding, and relatedness in a facultatively social carpenter bee"
912:
673:
1014:
385:
often comprising several species, with properties and capabilities greater than the aggregate of capabilities of the individual organisms.
296:
composed of many physically connected, interdependent individuals. The subunits of colonial organisms can be unicellular, as in the alga
1284:
Alexander, R. D.; Noonan, K. M.; Crespi, B. J. (1991). Jablonski, N. G.; Jain, V.; Jarchow, H.; Schulze-Makuch, P.; Deutsch, T. (eds.).
191:
are multicellular animals that live in colonies with a highly organized social structure. Colonies of some social insects may be deemed
1395:
851:
372:) can be useful; this is done by spreading organisms on a culture plate and starting a new stock from a single resulting colony.
411:
perform non-reproductive tasks at this early stage, such as nursing these first eggs and leaving the nest to gather resources.
1247:
547:
Jackson, J.B.C. (1977). "Competition on Marine Hard
Substrata: The Adaptive Significance of Solitary and Colonial Strategies".
775:
1121:"The influence of intraspecific competition on resource allocation during dependent colony foundation in a social insect"
114:
will form colonies when a dominant hierarchy is formed between two or more nest foundresses (facultative colony), while
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1380:
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526:
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availability, competition, and environmental cues can influence the progression and outcome of colony development.
356:
growing on the surface of or within a solid medium, presumably cultured from a single cell. Because the colony is
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Colonies, in the context of development, may be composed of two or more unitary (or solitary) organisms or be
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Colonies can form in various shapes and ways depending on the organism involved. For instance, the
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colonies in reply to environmental conditions while others must live in a colony to survive (
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368:(which occur at low frequencies). Obtaining such genetically identical organisms (or pure
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to adult form and individuals or groups of individuals (colonies) are visually distinct.
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1119:
Cronin, Adam L.; Fédérici, Pierre; Doums, Claudie; Monnin, Thibaud (1 February 2012).
107:
1374:
1361:
1334:
1261:
1242:
1033:
Keller, L. (1998). "Queen lifespan and colony characteristics in ants and termites".
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Jeanne, R. L. (1986). "The evolution of the organization of work in social insects".
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650:
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485:
382:
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111:
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1301:"Distributed physiology and the molecular basis of social life in eusocial insects"
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242:
213:
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Chouvenc, Thomas; Basille, Mathieu; Li, Hou-Feng; Su, Nan-Yao (25 November 2014).
582:
252:
Modular organisms are those in which a genet (or genetic individual formed from a
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1200:
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is a classic example of a colonial organism, one of many in the taxonomic class.
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724:"Revising the Superorganism: An Organizational Approach to Complex Eusociality"
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Journal of
Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution
608:"Coloniality, clonality, and modularity in animals: The elephant in the room"
1243:"Colony size, social complexity and reproductive conflict in social insects"
1072:"Extraordinary lifespans in ants: A test of evolutionary theories of ageing"
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188:
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119:
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360:, with all organisms in it descending from a single ancestor (assuming no
209:, potentially for more successful mating and to better protect offspring.
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170:
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799:"Life in the Colonies: Learning the Alien Ways of Colonial Organisms"
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typically involves a number of well-defined stages, detailed below.
317:. Individuals within a multicellular colonial organism may be called
307:
298:
279:
256:
202:
198:
84:
31:
973:
Nadell, Carey D.; Xavier, Joao B.; Foster, Kevin R. (January 2009).
1176:"Developmental Instability in Incipient Colonies of Social Insects"
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259:) asexually reproduces to form genetically identical clones called
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897:
Tortora, Gerard J.; Berdell R., Funke; Christine L., Case (2009).
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318:
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246:
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138:
115:
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Kunz, T.H.; Orrell, K.S. (2004). "Energy Costs of
Reproduction".
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Hiebert, Laurel S.; Simpson, Carl; Tiozzo, Stefano (2020-04-19).
118:
are animals that are physically connected by living tissue (the
166:
unitary organisms may aggregate to form colonies. For example,
184:
1288:. The biology of the naked mole-rat. Vol. 3. p. 44.
27:
Living things grouping together, usually for common benefit
773:
Grove, Noel (December 1988). "Quietly
Conserving Nature".
313:. Colonial organisms may have been the first step toward
220:, making it the largest known concentration of mammals.
1015:
Monitore
Zoologico Italiano-Italian Journal of Zoology
216:
is the summer home to a colony of around 20 million
83:
have determinate development (set life stages) from
1299:Friedmann, D.; Johnson, B.; Linksvayer, T. (2020).
839:
452:unique benefits that social colonies do not have.
364:), they are genetically identical, except for any
102:Some organisms are primarily independent and form
930:"Aseptic Laboratory Techniques: Plating Methods"
722:Canciani, M.; Arnellos, A.; Moreno, A. (2019).
792:
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8:
846:(3rd ed.). New York: Garland Science.
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329:. Structural and functional variation (
7:
838:Alberts, Bruce; et al. (1994).
664:Begon, Michael; et al. (2014).
583:"Colony – Biology-Online Dictionary"
389:Colony ontogeny for eusocial insects
803:Integrative and Comparative Biology
352:is defined as a visible cluster of
25:
934:Journal of Visualized Experiments
689:Dunn, T.; Richards, M.H. (2003).
1262:10.1046/j.1420-9101.1999.00028.x
991:10.1111/j.1574-6976.2008.00150.x
1248:Journal of Evolutionary Biology
1070:Keller, L.; Genoud, M. (1997).
306:), or multicellular, as in the
1362:10.1016/B0-12-176480-X/00061-9
975:"The sociobiology of biofilms"
393:Colony ontogeny refers to the
1:
900:Microbiology, An Introduction
842:Molecular Biology of the Cell
1286:The evolution of eusociality
1201:10.1371/journal.pone.0113949
245:assembled from two types of
30:For the political term, see
1318:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2020.104757
61:is composed of two or more
1412:
527:Austroplatypus incompertus
29:
1396:Environmental terminology
1241:Bourke, A. F. G. (1999).
1145:10.1007/s00442-011-2098-6
979:FEMS Microbiology Reviews
122:) that contains a shared
741:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02653
218:Mexican free-tailed bats
728:Frontiers in Psychology
708:10.1093/beheco/14.3.417
668:(4th ed.). Wiley.
549:The American Naturalist
315:multicellular organisms
1350:Encyclopedia of Energy
928:Sanders, E.R. (2012).
587:www.biology-online.org
496:Colonisation (biology)
249:
156:
50:
1305:Hormones and Behavior
1049:10.1007/s000400050084
666:Essentials of Ecology
429:of its natal colony.
395:developmental process
338:Portuguese man o' war
234:
201:, such as humans and
143:A breeding colony of
142:
124:gastrovascular cavity
110:). For example, some
40:
907:. pp. 170–171.
878:Animal Diversity Web
797:Winston, J. (2010).
476:Beehive (beekeeping)
1192:2014PLoSO...9k3949C
1137:2012Oecol.168..361C
1090:1997Natur.389..958K
776:National Geographic
627:10.1002/jez.b.22944
205:, form breeding or
151:archipelago in the
43:Brandt's cormorants
1386:Microbiology terms
816:10.1093/icb/icq146
695:Behavioral Ecology
424:Reproductive phase
344:Microbial colonies
290:Colonial organisms
250:
157:
97:solitary organisms
51:
1381:Community ecology
1084:(6654): 958–960.
914:978-0-321-58420-5
905:Benjamin Cummings
675:978-0-470-90913-3
254:sexually-produced
238:Marrus orthocanna
227:Modular organisms
89:Modular organisms
81:Unitary organisms
16:(Redirected from
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350:microbial colony
207:nesting colonies
145:northern gannets
70:bacterial colony
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18:Bacterial colony
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881:. Retrieved
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521:Birth colony
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447:Life history
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433:Colony death
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331:polymorphism
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275:sea anemones
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243:siphonophore
236:
235:The pelagic
214:Bracken Cave
158:
130:Colony types
101:
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67:
58:
52:
49:, California
41:A colony of
1356:: 423–442.
506:Eusociality
481:Bird colony
175:slime molds
160:Unicellular
104:facultative
79:organisms.
63:conspecific
47:Point Lobos
1375:Categories
1311:: 104757.
1022:: 119–133.
903:. Berlin:
883:2017-05-06
874:"Hydrozoa"
859:2014-06-11
592:2017-05-06
535:References
501:Coral reef
471:Ant colony
189:honey bees
149:Heligoland
1335:216030233
1210:1932-6203
1153:1432-1939
1125:Oecologia
783:(6): 822.
651:216030034
635:1552-5007
491:Coenocyte
366:mutations
335:hydrozoan
304:coenobium
153:North Sea
120:coenosarc
1327:32305342
1271:85187599
1228:25423502
1180:PLOS ONE
1161:21833638
1057:24541087
999:19067751
960:22617405
825:21714171
760:31849768
643:32306502
569:84687243
464:See also
440:monogyne
284:rhizomes
181:Eusocial
173:such as
171:Protists
108:obligate
1391:Habitat
1219:4244189
1188:Bibcode
1133:Bibcode
1106:4423161
1086:Bibcode
951:4846335
751:6901679
378:biofilm
370:strains
323:modules
311:Bryozoa
280:stolons
203:rodents
199:Animals
147:on the
77:modular
55:biology
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358:clonal
327:zooids
319:ramets
308:phylum
299:Volvox
261:ramets
257:zygote
247:zooids
116:corals
85:zygote
59:colony
32:Colony
1331:S2CID
1267:S2CID
1102:S2CID
1053:S2CID
647:S2CID
611:(PDF)
565:S2CID
516:Swarm
325:, or
1323:PMID
1224:PMID
1206:ISSN
1157:PMID
1149:ISSN
995:PMID
956:PMID
909:ISBN
848:ISBN
821:PMID
756:PMID
670:ISBN
639:PMID
631:ISSN
292:are
212:The
187:and
185:ants
162:and
57:, a
1358:doi
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1309:122
1257:doi
1214:PMC
1196:doi
1141:doi
1129:168
1094:doi
1082:389
1045:doi
987:doi
946:PMC
938:doi
811:doi
781:174
746:PMC
736:doi
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