Organization of Insect Societies

Download Organization of Insect Societies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674031258
Total Pages : 638 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (312 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Organization of Insect Societies by : Jürgen Gadau

Download or read book Organization of Insect Societies written by Jürgen Gadau and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-02-28 with total page 638 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this landmark volume, an international group of scientists has synthesized their collective expertise and insight into a newly unified vision of insect societies and what they can reveal about how sociality has arisen as an evolutionary strategy. Jürgen Gadau and Jennifer Fewell have assembled leading researchers from the fields of molecular biology, evolutionary genetics, neurophysiology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary theory to reexamine the question of sociality in insects. Recent advances in social complexity theory and the sequencing of the honeybee genome ensure that this book will be valued by anyone working on sociality in insects. At the same time, the theoretical ideas presented will be of broad-ranging significance to those interested in social evolution and complex systems.

The Other Insect Societies

Download The Other Insect Societies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674021631
Total Pages : 824 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (216 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Other Insect Societies by : James T. Costa

Download or read book The Other Insect Societies written by James T. Costa and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2006-09-30 with total page 824 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his exploration of insect societies that don't fit the eusocial schema, James T. Costa gives these interesting phenomena their due. He synthesizes the scattered literature about social phenomena across the arthropod phylum: beetles and bugs, caterpillars and cockroaches, mantids and membracids, sawflies and spiders.

Ants at Work

Download Ants at Work PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 9780393321326
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (213 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Ants at Work by : Deborah Gordon

Download or read book Ants at Work written by Deborah Gordon and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2000 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ants have long been regarded as the most interesting of the social insects. With their queens and celibate workers, these intriguing creatures have captured the imaginations of scientists and children alike for generations. Yet until now, no one had studied intensely the life cycle of the ant colony as a whole. An ant colony has a life cycle of about fifteen years--it is born, matures, and dies. But the individual ants that inhabit the colony live only one year. So how does this system of tunnels and caves in the dirt become so much more than the sum of its parts?Leading ant researcher Deborah Gordon takes the reader to the Arizona desert to explore this question. The answer involves the emerging insights of the new science of complexity, and contributes to understanding the evolution of life itself.

The Superorganism

Download The Superorganism PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 9780393067040
Total Pages : 556 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (67 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Superorganism by : Bert Holldobler

Download or read book The Superorganism written by Bert Holldobler and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2009 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of "The Ants" render the extraordinary lives of the social insects--ants, bees, wasps, and termites--in this visually spectacular volume. 110 color and 100 black-and-white illustrations.

In the Light of Evolution

Download In the Light of Evolution PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Sackler Colloquium
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis In the Light of Evolution by : National Academy of Sciences

Download or read book In the Light of Evolution written by National Academy of Sciences and published by Sackler Colloquium. This book was released on 2007 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.

The Insect Societies

Download The Insect Societies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Belknap Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 570 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (318 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Insect Societies by : Edward O. Wilson

Download or read book The Insect Societies written by Edward O. Wilson and published by Belknap Press. This book was released on 1971 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of insect sociology, presenting individual investigations of wasps, ants, bees, and termites, and discussing caste, behavior, communication, symbioses, and other topics.

Nourishment And Evolution In Insect Societies

Download Nourishment And Evolution In Insect Societies PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Westview Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 472 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Nourishment And Evolution In Insect Societies by : James H Hunt

Download or read book Nourishment And Evolution In Insect Societies written by James H Hunt and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 1994-03-14 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the structure and function of insect societies from a nutritional perspective in order to foster a fuller understanding of how their social systems evolved.

Information Processing in Social Insects

Download Information Processing in Social Insects PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Birkhäuser
ISBN 13 : 3034887396
Total Pages : 414 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (348 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Information Processing in Social Insects by : Claire Detrain

Download or read book Information Processing in Social Insects written by Claire Detrain and published by Birkhäuser. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Claire Detrain, Jean-Louis Deneubourg and Jacques Pasteels Studies on insects have been pioneering in major fields of modern biology. In the 1970 s, research on pheromonal communication in insects gave birth to the dis cipline of chemical ecology and provided a scientific frame to extend this approach to other animal groups. In the 1980 s, the theory of kin selection, which was initially formulated by Hamilton to explain the rise of eusociality in insects, exploded into a field of research on its own and found applications in the under standing of community structures including vertebrate ones. In the same manner, recent studies, which decipher the collective behaviour of insect societies, might be now setting the stage for the elucidation of information processing in animals. Classically, problem solving is assumed to rely on the knowledge of a central unit which must take decisions and collect all pertinent information. However, an alternative method is extensively used in nature: problems can be collectively solved through the behaviour of individuals, which interact with each other and with the environment. The management of information, which is a major issue of animal behaviour, is interesting to study in a social life context, as it raises addi tional questions about conflict-cooperation trade-oft's. Insect societies have proven particularly open to experimental analysis: one can easily assemble or disassemble them and place them in controllable situations in the laboratory.

Parasites in Social Insects

Download Parasites in Social Insects PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780691059242
Total Pages : 436 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (592 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Parasites in Social Insects by : Paul Schmid-Hempel

Download or read book Parasites in Social Insects written by Paul Schmid-Hempel and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1998-11-22 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In addition, the author develops new insights, especially in his examination of the intricate relationships between parasites and their social hosts through the rigorous use of evolutionary and ecological concepts.".

Debugging the Link Between Social Theory and Social Insects

Download Debugging the Link Between Social Theory and Social Insects PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : LSU Press
ISBN 13 : 9780807134665
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (346 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Debugging the Link Between Social Theory and Social Insects by : Diane M. Rodgers

Download or read book Debugging the Link Between Social Theory and Social Insects written by Diane M. Rodgers and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2008-11-15 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, natural and social scientists began comparing certain insects to human social organization. Entomologists theorized that social insects -- such as ants, bees, wasps, and termites -- organize themselves into highly specialized, hierarchical divisions of labor. Using a distinctly human vocabulary that reflected the dominant social structure of the time, they described insects as queens, workers, and soldiers and categorized their behaviors with words like marriage, slavery, farming, and factories. At the same time, sociologists working to develop a model for human organization compared people to insects, relying on the same premise that humans arrange themselves hierarchically. In Debugging the Link between Social Theory and Social Insects, Diane M. Rodgers explains how these co-constructed theories reinforced one another, thereby naturalizing Western conceptions of race, class, and gender as they gained prominence in popular culture and the scientific world. Using a critical science studies perspective not previously applied to research on social insect symbolism, Rodgers attempts to "debug" this theoretical co-construction. She provides sufficient background information to accommodate readers unfamiliar with entomology -- including in-depth explanations of the terms used in the research and discussion of social insects, particularly the insect sociality scale. The entire premise of sociality for insects depends on a dominant understanding of high/low civilization standards -- particularly the tenets of a specialized division of labor and hierarchy -- comparisons that appear to be informed by nineteenth-century colonial thought. Placing these theories in a historical and cross-cultural context, Rodgers explains why hierarchical ideas gained prominence, despite the existence of opposing theories in the literature, and how they resulted in an inhibiting vocabulary that relies more heavily on metaphors than on description. Such analysis is necessary, Rodgers argues, because it sheds light both on newly proposed scientific models and on future changes in human social structures. Contemporary scientists have begun to challenge the traditional understanding of insect social organization and to propose new interdisciplinary models that combine ideas about social insect and human organizational structure with computer technologies. Without a thorough understanding of how the old models came about, residual language and embedded assumptions may remain and continue to reinforce hierarchical social constructions. This intriguing interdisciplinary book makes an important contribution to the history -- and future -- of science and sociology.

Insect Media

Download Insect Media PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 081666739X
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (166 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Insect Media by : Jussi Parikka

Download or read book Insect Media written by Jussi Parikka and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the early nineteenth century, when entomologists first popularized the unique biological and behavioral characteristics of insects, technological innovators and theorists have proposed insects as templates for a wide range of technologies. In Insect Media, Jussi Parikka analyzes how insect forms of social organization-swarms, hives, webs, and distributed intelligence-have been used to structure modern media technologies and the network society, providing a radical new perspective on the interconnection of biology and technology. Through close engagement with the pioneering work of insect ethologists, including Jakob von Uexküll and Karl von Frisch, posthumanist philosophers, media theorists, and contemporary filmmakers and artists, Parikka develops an insect theory of media, one that conceptualizes modern media as more than the products of individual human actors, social interests, or technological determinants. They are, rather, profoundly nonhuman phenomena that both draw on and mimic the alien lifeworlds of insects. Deftly moving from the life sciences to digital technology, from popular culture to avant-garde art and architecture, and from philosophy to cybernetics and game theory, Parikka provides innovative conceptual tools for exploring the phenomena of network society and culture. Challenging anthropocentric approaches to contemporary science and culture, Insect Media reveals the possibilities that insects and other nonhuman animals offer for rethinking media, the conflation of biology and technology, and our understanding of, and interaction with, contemporary digital culture.

A World of Insects

Download A World of Insects PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674046196
Total Pages : 413 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (74 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A World of Insects by : Ring T. Cardé

Download or read book A World of Insects written by Ring T. Cardé and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-16 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As we follow the path of a giant water bug or peer over the wing of a gypsy moth, we glimpse our world anew, at once shrunk and magnified. Owing to their size alone, insects’ experience of the world is radically different from ours. Air to them is as viscous as water to us. The predicament of size, along with the dizzying diversity of insects and their status as arguably the most successful organisms on earth, have inspired passion and eloquence in some of the world’s most innovative scientists. A World of Insects showcases classic works on insect behavior, physiology, and ecology published over half a century by Harvard University Press. James Costa, Vincent Dethier, Thomas Eisner, Lee Goff, Bernd Heinrich, Bert Hölldobler, Kenneth Roeder, Andrew Ross, Thomas Seeley, Karl von Frisch, Gilbert Waldbauer, E. O. Wilson, and Mark Winston—each writer, in his unique voice, paints a close-up portrait of the ways insects explore their environment, outmaneuver their enemies, mate, and care for kin. Selected by two world-class entomologists, these essays offer compelling descriptions of insect cooperation and warfare, the search for ancient insect DNA in amber, and the energy economics of hot-blooded insects. They also discuss the impact—for good and ill—of insects on our food supply, their role in crime scene investigation, and the popular fascination with pheromones, killer bees, and fire ants. Each entry begins with commentary on the authors, their topics, and the latest research in the field.

Insect-Fungal Associations

Download Insect-Fungal Associations PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN 13 : 0195166523
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (951 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Insect-Fungal Associations by : Fernando E. Vega

Download or read book Insect-Fungal Associations written by Fernando E. Vega and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2005 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is an increasing interest in using fungi as bio control agents for insect pests in agricultural systems, and also a growing interest in the basic biology of insect-fungal associations from the perspective of parasitism, symbiosis and infection. This title covers topics in this field, incorporating new molecular techniques wherever possible.

Debugging the Link between Social Theory and Social Insects

Download Debugging the Link between Social Theory and Social Insects PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : LSU Press
ISBN 13 : 0807154954
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (71 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Debugging the Link between Social Theory and Social Insects by : Diane M. Rodgers

Download or read book Debugging the Link between Social Theory and Social Insects written by Diane M. Rodgers and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2008-11-15 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, natural and social scientists began comparing certain insects to human social organization. Entomologists theorized that social insects -- such as ants, bees, wasps, and termites -- organize themselves into highly specialized, hierarchical divisions of labor. Using a distinctly human vocabulary that reflected the dominant social structure of the time, they described insects as queens, workers, and soldiers and categorized their behaviors with words like marriage, slavery, farming, and factories. At the same time, sociologists working to develop a model for human organization compared people to insects, relying on the same premise that humans arrange themselves hierarchically. In Debugging the Link between Social Theory and Social Insects, Diane M. Rodgers explains how these co-constructed theories reinforced one another, thereby naturalizing Western conceptions of race, class, and gender as they gained prominence in popular culture and the scientific world.Using a critical science studies perspective not previously applied to research on social insect symbolism, Rodgers attempts to "debug" this theoretical co-construction. She provides sufficient background information to accommodate readers unfamiliar with entomology -- including in-depth explanations of the terms used in the research and discussion of social insects, particularly the insect sociality scale. The entire premise of sociality for insects depends on a dominant understanding of high/low civilization standards -- particularly the tenets of a specialized division of labor and hierarchy -- comparisons that appear to be informed by nineteenth-century colonial thought. Placing these theories in a historical and cross-cultural context, Rodgers explains why hierarchical ideas gained prominence, despite the existence of opposing theories in the literature, and how they resulted in an inhibiting vocabulary that relies more heavily on metaphors than on description. Such analysis is necessary, Rodgers argues, because it sheds light both on newly proposed scientific models and on future changes in human social structures. Contemporary scientists have begun to challenge the traditional understanding of insect social organization and to propose new interdisciplinary models that combine ideas about social insect and human organizational structure with computer technologies. Without a thorough understanding of how the old models came about, residual language and embedded assumptions may remain and continue to reinforce hierarchical social constructions.This intriguing interdisciplinary book makes an important contribution to the history -- and future -- of science and sociology.

Neurobiology of Chemical Communication

Download Neurobiology of Chemical Communication PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 1466553413
Total Pages : 614 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (665 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Neurobiology of Chemical Communication by : Carla Mucignat-Caretta

Download or read book Neurobiology of Chemical Communication written by Carla Mucignat-Caretta and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2014-02-14 with total page 614 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intraspecific communication involves the activation of chemoreceptors and subsequent activation of different central areas that coordinate the responses of the entire organism—ranging from behavioral modification to modulation of hormones release. Animals emit intraspecific chemical signals, often referred to as pheromones, to advertise their presence to members of the same species and to regulate interactions aimed at establishing and regulating social and reproductive bonds. In the last two decades, scientists have developed a greater understanding of the neural processing of these chemical signals. Neurobiology of Chemical Communication explores the role of the chemical senses in mediating intraspecific communication. Providing an up-to-date outline of the most recent advances in the field, it presents data from laboratory and wild species, ranging from invertebrates to vertebrates, from insects to humans. The book examines the structure, anatomy, electrophysiology, and molecular biology of pheromones. It discusses how chemical signals work on different mammalian and non-mammalian species and includes chapters on insects, Drosophila, honey bees, amphibians, mice, tigers, and cattle. It also explores the controversial topic of human pheromones. An essential reference for students and researchers in the field of pheromones, this is also an ideal resource for those working on behavioral phenotyping of animal models and persons interested in the biology/ecology of wild and domestic species.

Sociality, Hierarchy, Health

Download Sociality, Hierarchy, Health PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309306647
Total Pages : 400 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (93 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Sociality, Hierarchy, Health by : National Research Council

Download or read book Sociality, Hierarchy, Health written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2014-09-16 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sociality, Hierarchy, Health: Comparative Biodemography is a collection of papers that examine cross-species comparisons of social environments with a focus on social behaviors along with social hierarchies and connections, to examine their effects on health, longevity, and life histories. This report covers a broad spectrum of nonhuman animals, exploring a variety of measures of position in social hierarchies and social networks, drawing links among these factors to health outcomes and trajectories, and comparing them to those in humans. Sociality, Hierarchy, Health revisits both the theoretical underpinnings of biodemography and the empirical findings that have emerged over the past two decades.

A Philosophy of the Insect

Download A Philosophy of the Insect PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231540728
Total Pages : 177 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Philosophy of the Insect by : Jean-Marc Drouin

Download or read book A Philosophy of the Insect written by Jean-Marc Drouin and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world of insects is at once beneath our feet and unfathomably alien. Small and innumerable, insects surround and disrupt us even as we scarcely pay them any mind. Insects confront us with the limits of what is imaginable, while at the same time being essential to the everyday functioning of all terrestrial ecosystems. In this book, the philosopher and historian of science Jean-Marc Drouin contends that insects pose a fundamental challenge to philosophy. Exploring the questions of what insects are and what scientific, aesthetic, ethical, and historical relationships they have with humanity, he argues that they force us to reconsider our ideas of the animal and the social. He traces the role that insects have played in language, mythology, literature, entomology, sociobiology, and taxonomy over the centuries. Drouin emphasizes the links between humanistic and scientific approaches—how we have projected human roles onto insects and seen ourselves in insect form. Caught between the animal and plant kingdoms, insects force us to confront and reevaluate our notions of gender, family, society, struggle, the division of labor, social organization, and individual and collective intelligence. A remarkably original and thought-provoking work, A Philosophy of the Insect is an important book for animal studies, environmental ethics, and the history and philosophy of science.