Comparative Psychology of Invertebrates: the Field And
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Comparative Psychology of Invertebrates Research in Developmental and Comparative Psychology (Vol. 2) Garland Reference Library of Social Science (Vol. 1082) Research in Developmental and Comparative Psychology Gary Greenberg and Ethel Tobach, Series Editors Behavioral Development Concepts of Approach/Withdrawal and Integrative Levels Edited by Kathryn E. Hood, Gary Greenberg, and Ethel Tobach Comparative Psychology ofInvertebrates The Field and Laboratory Study of Insect Behavior Edited by Gary Greenberg and Ethel Tobach Comparative Psychology of Invertebrates The Field and Laboratory Study ofInsect Behavior edited by Gary Greenberg Ethel Tobach I~ ~~o~:!;n~~~up New York London First published by Garland Publishing, Inc. This edition published 2012 by Routledge: Routledge Routledge Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group 711 Third Avenue 2 Park Square, Milton Park New York, NY 10017 Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Copyright © 1997 by Gary Greenberg and Ethel Tobach All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Comparative psychology of invertebrates : the field and laboratory study of insect behavior I edited by Gary Greenberg and Ethel Tobach. p. cm. - (Garland reference library of social science; vol. 1082. Research in developmental and comparative psychology ; v. 2) Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN 0-8153-2196-1 (alk. paper) 1. Insects-Behavior. 2. Insect societies. 1. Greenberg, Gary. II. Tobach, Ethel, 1921- III. Series: Garland reference li- brary of social science ; v. 1082. IV. Series: Garland reference library of social science. Research in developmental and comparative psychology ; vol. 2. QL496.C648 1997 595.T051-dc20 96-12257 CIP On behalf of the Board of the T. C. Schneirla Research Fund, we dedicate this volume to the memory of Lester R. Aronson, a mem ber of the group that developed the biennial meetings on which volumes in this series are based. He was an internationally respected scientist who, through his research and writing, contributed much to our knowledge and understanding of the development and evo lution of behavior, which we are proud to have included in previous volumes in this series. He was an important guide to his students and colleagues, especially to the board in all its activities. Our Joss of his keen, soft-spoken analyses of problems in science and everyday affairs will continue to be deeply felt. TC &;,.n.t. (1902-/91>8) i. hu offir<.t "" 0.,..,,-., of, .,.,_, Hh.._, ,., ....... Moano"'oj'N.,. "" ",,'-? /965. """".,.a..,;,, r. ...h , Contents Series Editors' Foreword IX Preface XI Section I. Persistent Issues in the Comparative Study of Behavioral Evolution and Development The Role of Controversy in Animal Behavior 3 Adrian Wenner Grades, Levels and Ratchets in Evolution 39 Niles Eldredge Where Have I Heard It All Before Some Neglected Issues ofInvertebrate Learning 55 Charles 1. Abramson Macroevolution of a Fixed Action Pattern for Learning The Exploration Flights of Bees and Wasps 79 Rudolf Jander Desert Ants Their Evolution and Contemporary Characteristics 101 G. M. Dlussky Section II. Social Organization in Ants Task Allocation and Interaction Rates in Social Insect Colonies 125 Deborah M. Gordon viii Contents Division of Labor in Social Insect Colonies Self-Organization and Recent Revelations Regarding Age, Size and Genetic Differences 135 Robin J. Stuart Ecology, Colony Demography, and Social Organization in Ants 157 James F. A. Traniello Section III. Social Parasitism in Ants Adaptations for Social Parasitism in the Slave-Making Ant Genus Polyergus 177 Howard Topoff The Role of Workers and Queens in the Colony Member Recognition Systems of Ants Are There Any Differences that Predispose Some Kinds of Ants to Social Parasitism? 193 Thomas M. Alloway Section IV. Recent Research Issues The Problem of Measuring Associative Learning in Drosophila melanogaster with Proper Proce dures to Control for Nonassociative Effects 223 Michael G. Terry and Jerry Hirsch Pseudostinging Behavior of the Harvester Ant Messor sanctus Forel as a Response to Novelty 245 Ewa J. Godzinska, Anna Szczuka and Julita Korczynska Contributors 277 Species Index 279 Name Index 283 Subject Index 287 Series Editors' Foreword Research in Developmental and Comparative Psychology is a schol arly series of works dedicated to honor the contributions ofT. C. Schneirla to comparative psychology, a discipline that crosses many boundaries in its concern with evolutionary theory. A consistent critic of anthropomorphism, Schneirla questioned vitalistic ap proaches that stressed only similarities in human and nonhuman behavior. He stressed the concept of integrative levels as an alter native approach that clarifies the continuities and discontinuities in the evolution of behavior. Most significant was the emphasis he placed on the study of developmental processes as an alternative to the contradictory (i.e., nature-nurture) hereditary and environmen tal explanations of the evolution of behavior. Schneirla's criticisms of ethology, based on the integrative levels concept, stand today as a valuable basis for criticism of sociobiology and evolutionary pschology. Schneirla's opposition to biological reductionism influ enced research on the relationship berween psychology and physi ology. His approach/withdrawal theory, first formulated some 30 years ago, continues to form the basis of research and theory in the areas of behavioral development and emotional behavior. Although he died in 1968, Schneirla is still recognized as one of the foremost theoreticians in comparative psychology, and the re birth of interest in comparative psychology is evident in the work of many of his students and colleagues. The T. C. Schneirla Research Board convenes biennially to bring together the best writers on is sues in comparative psychology. These sessions are cosponsored by Wichita State University, The American Museum of Natural His tory and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. x Series Editors' Foreword The session on which this book is based was supported by a City of Wichita Mill Levy Grant, by Wichita State University and by the American Museum of Natural History. Gary Greenberg Ethel Tobach Preface When T. C. Schneirla became terminally ill, he was writing Army Ants: A Study in Social Organization. The book was completed by his last student, Howard R. Topoff, and was published in 1971. The papers in this volume on invertebrate behavior, predominantly ant behavior, are presented as a tribute to the man and to his theo retical and experimental contributions to our understanding of the development and evolution of behavior. (The editors define com parative psychology as the comparative study of the development and evolution of the behavior of all living organisms.) Themes de veloped by Schneirla in his research and theoretical formulations are evident throughout the volume. Although he was not the first to use both laboratory and field techniques, his careful and insightful integration oflaboratory and field techniques was a hallmark of his experimental approach. He broadened Wheeler's concept of trophallaxis by conceptualizing the reciprocal stimulation process that is illustrated throughout the ex perimental work reported herein as a central component of the so cial organization of the social insect. At the time that Schneirla was most productive in his theoreti cal writings, the tradition of ethology was dominant in most Euro pean studies of comparative psychology. He rejected instinct, a cen tral theoretical component of ethology, as an explanatory concept in behavioral research. Instead, he elaborated and gave new mean ing to development as the focal process in understanding behavior. By doing that, he drew attention to the behavioral plasticiry of de veloping organisms through all stages of their life cycles, and par ticularly highlighted the significance of this behavioral and devel opmental plasticiry in the social insects. This aspect of the evolution xii Preface and development of the social insects discussed in this volume speaks to the early contribution by Schneirla to this approach in the study of insects and of invertebrate behavior. His emphasis on development also brought to the fore new questions, many of which are addressed in this volume. These ques tions center on the significance of different environmental processes in the integration of behavioral patterns evidenced in the ways in which the invertebrates and especially the social insects solve prob lems presented to them by the complexity of their abiotic and social environments. Advances in technical instrumentation for research will be use ful in reformulating these old questions in new and significantly constructive programs for responsible research. The theoretical con tributions of Schneirla will continue to prove an important facilita tion of those new research techniques. Gary Greenberg Ethel Tobach Section I Persistent Issues in the Comparative Study of Behavioral Evolution and Development This page intentionally left blank The Role of Controversy in Animal Behavior Adrian wenner What I saw when I looked at the famous duck-rabbit was either the duck or the rabbit, but not the lines on the page-at least not until after much conscious effort. The lines were not the facts of which the duck and rabbit were alternative interpretations. (Thomas~ l\uhn, 1979,p. ix) As a philosopher of science, T. C. Schneirla understood the impor tant distinction between facts and their interpretation.