Table Of ContentThe Lives of Ants
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Thea Lives of
ANTS
by Laurent Keller and Elisabeth Gordon
translated by James Grieve
3
GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp
OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford.
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QLaurentKellerandE´lisabethGordon2009
EnglishtranslationQJamesGrieve2009
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DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker)
Firstpublished2009
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ISBN 978–0–19–954186–7
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Acknowledgments
The authors are extremely grateful to the Foundation Ernest
Dubois for its generous support. Laurent Keller also acknow-
ledges the Swiss National Foundation for its continuing support
of his research. We thank Daniel Cherix, Christian Peeters,
Francesco Mondada, and Ge´rard Jorland for their useful com-
ments on the French version of the text. We would also like to
expressourgratitudetoLathaMenonofOxfordUniversityPress
forherstrongsupportandexpertguidance,andtoJamesGrieve
forthedifficulttranslationofthebook.UlrichMuellermadevery
valuable comments on the leaf-cutting ant section; and we are
particularly grateful to Andrew Bourke for his close reading of
the whole translation and his perceptive comments on it.
Thanks, too, to Pierre and Chloe´ for having gone for so many
monthswithouttheir favouriteveal blanquette andcheese souf-
fle´,andtoMariusandLe´onoreforhavinguncomplaininglydone
without all that skiing.
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Contents
List of illustrations x
Figure acknowledgements xii
Introduction 1
Part I An Ecological Success Story 7
Chapter 1 Anywhereand everywhere 9
Chapter 2 On tastes and colours 13
Chapter 3 The secrets of success 17
Chapter 4 A huge impact on the environment 24
Chapter 5 A long long story 28
Part II Social Life 35
Chapter 6 Thebirth of the colony 37
Chapter 7 Division of labour 43
Chapter 8 Let slip the ants of war 51
Chapter 9 Flexiblework arrangements 56
Chapter 10 Communication systems 60
Chapter 11 Family models 70
Chapter 12 Parasites and slave-makers 77
vii
CONTENTS
Part III Nowt So Rum as Ants! 83
Chapter 13 Armyants 85
Chapter 14 Wework at theweaver’s trade 93
Chapter 15 Navigatorswho never lose their way 99
Chapter 16 Honeypots 106
Part IV Advantageous Liaisons 109
Chapter 17 Colonies and their livestock 111
Chapter 18 Ant trees 121
Chapter 19 Attines and fungus getting on famously 129
Part V Bloody Pests! 135
Chapter 20 Stand by for invaders! 137
Chapter 21 Supercolonies 148
Part VI Kith and Kin 157
Chapter 22 Genetic altruism and sociality 159
Chapter 23 Family feuds 164
Chapter 24 Nepotism or not? 172
Chapter 25 Caste struggles 175
Chapter 26 Anything goes 182
Part VII Sociogenetics 193
Chapter 27 Genes and family structure 195
Chapter 28 Thegenomics of behaviour 202
Chapter29Sowhat’ssospecialaboutthegenomeoffireants? 208
viii
CONTENTS
Part VIII High-tech Ants 215
Chapter 30 Computer-modelling behaviour 217
Chapter 31 Of ants and ITmen 221
Chapter 32 Swarm robotics 226
Conclusion 233
Further reading 235
Species Index 241
General Index 244
ix
Description:Since time immemorial, human beings have been fascinated by ants, amazed by them, intrigued and captivated by them. With numerous black-and-white images and eight pages of color plates, The Lives of Ants provides a state-of-the-art look at what we now know about these fascinating creatures, portrayi
