Mega colony of ants takes over the world

The_Conductor

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8127000/8127519.stm

A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.

Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same interrelated colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.

What's more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together.

Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) were once native to South America. But people have unintentionally introduced the ants to all continents except Antarctica.

These introduced Argentine ants are renowned for forming large colonies, and for becoming a significant pest, attacking native animals and crops.

In Europe, one vast colony of Argentine ants is thought to stretch for 6,000km (3,700 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, while another in the US, known as the 'Californian large', extends over 900km (560 miles) along the coast of California. A third huge colony exists on the west coast of Japan.

While ants are usually highly territorial, those living within each super-colony are tolerant of one another, even if they live tens or hundreds of kilometres apart. Each super-colony, however, was thought to be quite distinct.

But it now appears that billions of Argentine ants around the world all actually belong to one single global mega-colony.

Researchers in Japan and Spain led by Eiriki Sunamura of the University of Tokyo found that Argentine ants living in Europe, Japan and California shared a strikingly similar chemical profile of hydrocarbons on their cuticles.

But further experiments revealed the true extent of the insects' global ambition.

The team selected wild ants from the main European super-colony, from another smaller one called the Catalonian super-colony which lives on the Iberian coast, the Californian super-colony and from the super-colony in west Japan, as well as another in Kobe, Japan.

They then matched up the ants in a series of one-on-one tests to see how aggressive individuals from different colonies would be to one another.

Ants from the smaller super-colonies were always aggressive to one another. So ants from the west coast of Japan fought their rivals from Kobe, while ants from the European super-colony didn't get on with those from the Iberian colony.

One big family

But whenever ants from the main European and Californian super-colonies and those from the largest colony in Japan came into contact, they acted as if they were old friends.

These ants rubbed antennae with one another and never became aggressive or tried to avoid one another.

In short, they acted as if they all belonged to the same colony, despite living on different continents separated by vast oceans.

The most plausible explanation is that ants from these three super-colonies are indeed family, and are all genetically related, say the researchers. When they come into contact, they recognise each other by the chemical composition of their cuticles.

"The enormous extent of this population is paralleled only by human society," the researchers write in the journal Insect Sociaux, in which they report their findings.

However, the irony is that it is us who likely created the ant mega-colony by initially transporting the insects around the world, and by continually introducing ants from the three continents to each other, ensuring the mega-colony continues to mingle.

"Humans created this great non-aggressive ant population," the researchers write.

Sleipnir

Like they say, when the human reign of Earth comes to an end, the age of the insect will begin.

The_Conductor

Sleipnir wrote: »

Like they say, when the human reign of Earth comes to an end, the age of the insect will begin.

There are millions of times more of them than there are us, at the moment- so are deluding ourselves in imaging that this is in fact the age of human reign? The age of human rampage might be more accurate- but I bow to our ant leaders!

It's an interesting thought. I suppose it depends on how you define what makes a reign successful.

If you define it by how prolific a species it, ants would certainly beat humans; but there are species that are far more prolific than ants, for example, Prokaryote SAR11; that species is estimated to contain 10^28 individuals.

But, humans are undoubtedly the most powerful and dominant animal on Earth.

There's an interesting passage in Carl Sagan's The Pale Blue Dot, where he describes what he believes aliens would see if they observed us from afar. In one part, he says that aliens would probably consider cars to be the dominant species, as they're more easily visible than humans.

Overheal

How long before we begin classifying things like that as one Entity? I mean, I always thought the next step in the evolutionary cycle would be along those lines. After all, arent we all just a supercolony of one celled organisms, when you think about it.

jumpguy

Is it just me or is there less ants in Ireland. I know they're all over warmer countries but you'd see the odd few in Ireland. Is it just me?

Also, ants must outnumber humans. I mean, they're not as exposed to the human food chain as other animals, and are on the top or near the top of theirs. They are tolerant of urban and rural atmospheres. It's not surprising there is so much of them.

The_Conductor

jumpguy wrote: »

Is it just me or is there less ants in Ireland. I know they're all over warmer countries but you'd see the odd few in Ireland. Is it just me?

Also, ants must outnumber humans. I mean, they're not as exposed to the human food chain as other animals, and are on the top or near the top of theirs. They are tolerant of urban and rural atmospheres. It's not surprising there is so much of them.

You're welcome to pop over here- I've a whole colony in my pot garden. I could spend hours watching them at work.......

Ron DMC

smccarrick wrote: »

I've a whole colony in my pot garden.

Seriously, this isn't a drugs forum.

Mahatma coat

-JammyDodger- wrote: »

It's an interesting thought. I suppose it depends on how you define what makes a reign successful.

If you define it by how prolific a species it, ants would certainly beat humans; but there are species that are far more prolific than ants, for example, Prokaryote SAR11; that species is estimated to contain 10^28 individuals.

But, humans are undoubtedly the most powerful and dominant animal on Earth.

There's an interesting passage in Carl Sagan's The Pale Blue Dot, where he describes what he believes aliens would see if they observed us from afar. In one part, he says that aliens would probably consider cars to be the dominant species, as they're more easily visible than humans.

did Sagan Rob that bit from Douglas Adams or the other way round?

Ford Prefect is so named as when he got here first he thought cvars were the dominant life form :D:D

as an aside my Grandad actually had a Prefect

Mahatma coat

Mahatma coat wrote: »

did Sagan Rob that bit from Douglas Adams or the other way round?

Ford Prefect is so named as when he got here first he thought cvars were the dominant life form :D:D

as an aside my Grandad actually had a Prefect

I think he might have now that you say it, I remember him saying it was somebody else who thought of the idea, and Douglas Adams rings a bell.

--amadeus--

I read an article (HC, so no links ) that claimed that wheat is the most successful species on the planet. It's cultivated all over the world and has helped shape human history. Indeed that's the crux of it's claim to supremacy - while other "dominant" species such as cockroaches or ants are in opposition to mankind and as such are often exterminated and deliberatley blocked wheat has subjugated us to it. We actively work at spreading it around teh globe and have changed our lifestyles and way of living to better cultivate it. Did wheat enable us to build cities or did we just build cities so we could grow more wheat?

A Neurotic

There's no one perfect place to post this, but post it I must.

I f*cking love this forum.

Dinner

smccarrick wrote: »

Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same interrelated colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

See, now why can't humans be like that. We've been beating the ****e out of each other for millennia while ants have already copped that they're all the same and just get along.

We can dream...

Frankiestylee

I wonder why the smaller ant colonies fight it out. It never really said what happened when a small European met a large Californian. Do the small Europeans fight the large Europeans because of territory or some difference?

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

Frankiestylee

Oh rats could be a good one... That's a pretty excellent idea really. I always assumed the insects would be the ones left in charge, but rats could easily take them on... if they survived the radiation.

The_Conductor

If memory serves me right- they have already done radiation tests on a range of insects- and the maligned cockroach was top of the survivor list. Personally I'd much rather a social creature like an ant survived- nature apparently has other ideas.

Monkeybonkers

I remember reading (though not where) that there was a colony of ants 40 kms wide living beneath Melbourne. Possibly a part of this super-colony.

mikhail

smccarrick wrote: »

If memory serves me right- they have already done radiation tests on a range of insects- and the maligned cockroach was top of the survivor list.

Just not true. Most insects are tougher than the cockroach when it comes to radiation. Cockroaches are maybe 10 times as resistant to radiation as us, but they're not exceptional.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/02/23/1567313.htm?site=science/greatmomentsinscience

kumate_champ07

smccarrick wrote: »

If memory serves me right- they have already done radiation tests on a range of insects- and the maligned cockroach was top of the survivor list. Personally I'd much rather a social creature like an ant survived- nature apparently has other ideas.

fruit flies can withstand very high levels of radiation