先看自然选择对蚂蚁集体行为的影响：

More successful colonies tend to forage less when conditions are dry, and show relatively stable foraging activity when conditions are more humid. Restraint from foraging does not compromise a colony’s long-term survival; colonies that fail to forage at all on many days survive as long, over the colony’s 20–30-year lifespan, as those that forage more regularly. Sensitivity to conditions in which to reduce foraging activity may be transmissible from parent to offspring colony. These results indicate that natural selection is shaping the collective behavior that regulates foraging activity, and that the selection pressure, related to climate, may grow stronger if the current drought in their habitat persists.

干旱出现，觅食减少；许多天不外出觅食的蚂蚁和其它外出觅食的蚂蚁一样高寿；集体行为能够被子代传承！

如何解释这一现象？ 

It seems that once some minimum threshold of food supply is reached, other factors, including perhaps the cost of desiccation, have a stronger impact on colony reproductive success than persistently high foraging activity. Like many animal species that store food, for example in fat reserves, harvester ant colonies store seeds for many months. Harvester ant colonies that conserve more water may be able to produce more, or better-hydrated female reproductives that can survive longer during the founding stage.

再看种间竞争对蚂蚁集体行为的影响：

 In other conditions, such as in tropical forests where the cost of foraging is low, other constraints, such as interspecific competition, probably create different evolutionary pressures on the collective foraging behaviour of ant colonies. 

当食物供给达到某一最小阈值时，干旱所造成的觅食成本，而不是觅食活动成了蚂蚁成功繁殖后代的因素。而在某些觅食成本不高的情况下，种间竞争对蚂蚁的集体行为产生了进化压力。

一点思考：

部分不外出觅食的蚂蚁为什么还很长寿，是不是有搭便车的行为（偷吃储藏的种子）？

水分消耗是蚂蚁对干旱气候敏感的主要原因。那人类呢？在高温时期，是不是也应该减少出行，以保体内水分（高温假的理论来源于此吗？）。

在物质供给达到一定程度的今天，精神（公平、公正、公开、自由、博爱等）供给是不是成了人类繁衍生息的主要因素？

在工业革命以前，人类是否因衣食住行来成本较高，而像蚂蚁一样，通过调整行为（主要是储藏）来传宗接代的、并由此很好地保护了自然资源呢？也就是说，人们比较“懒散”呢？工业革命后，衣食住行获取成本大大降低，从而为获取更多的资源比如石油、海洋、空间资源等而在不同国家展开争夺呢？言外之意是，国际竞争成了某个具体国家发展的动力。比如，美国如何发展，要看中国的发展导向。当然，中国的发展导向，也要看美国的发展风向标。如果是这样，国际和平只能是一个国际梦了；中国与每个国家和睦相处，也只能是中国梦了。

有些想法正在思考中，并打算搜寻数据加以验证。记住，千万别剽窃思想。想法吗，可以参考！

参考文献：Gordon D M.2013.The rewards of restraint in the collective regulation of foraging by harvester ant colonies.498:91-93.

 

 

转载本文请联系原作者获取授权，同时请注明本文来自曹建军科学网博客。
链接地址：https://wap.sciencenet.cn/blog-436916-712032.html

上一篇：如果这样的文章发表也算血泪史，那这个世界的惊天冤案就太多了！
下一篇：还是想说，发表文章的血泪史绝对不是这样的！