IIRC, the Queen is able to determine what speciallized ants are needed most, and the next batch of eggs are somehow just what was needed. i.e., if there had been a raid, and several workers and soldiers were lost, the next batch of eggs would be replacements for those lost.neoolong wrote:Considering that you can do the same type of thing with bacteria, what's the point of doing it with ants? Too much trouble.Acacia wrote:Have there been any studies removing certain types of ants from their usual environment to another to see if any significant mutations would occur and how fast they would implement?
Why have ants barely changed?
Moderator: Alyrium Denryle
Me: Nope, that's why I have you around to tell me.
Nitram: You -are- beautiful. Anyone tries to tell you otherwise kill them.
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP" -- Leonard Nimoy, last Tweet
-
Kuroneko
- Jedi Council Member
- Posts: 2469
- Joined: 2003-03-13 03:10am
- Location: Fréchet space
- Contact:
It would also inhibit evolution, since the Queen is compratively isolated from environmental factors detrimental to her survival. The most likely thing change would be how many worker drones the Queen produces, the rate of which has likely changed during the millions of years the ants have been around. However, that's hardly enough to make an ant ... not an ant.neoolong wrote:Wouldn't that just be something like she can choose what type of genetic material to pass on to her offspring to make into babies?
"The fool saith in his heart that there is no empty set. But if that were so, then the set of all such sets would be empty, and hence it would be the empty set." -- Wesley Salmon
No, the genes are the same. Most (or all, I'm not sure) ant caste diferentiation is a result of changes in how the eggs/larva/pupae are nursed by the worker ants.neoolong wrote:Wouldn't that just be something like she can choose what type of genetic material to pass on to her offspring to make into babies?
That's kinda cool.
Actually, the role of an individual ant in the hive (worker, warrior, queen) is determined more by what workers feed the pupae than by genetic material. The only genetic distinction that I know of is that males become drones.LadyTevar wrote:IIRC, the Queen is able to determine what speciallized ants are needed most, and the next batch of eggs are somehow just what was needed. i.e., if there had been a raid, and several workers and soldiers were lost, the next batch of eggs would be replacements for those lost.
"This is supposed to be a happy occasion... Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who."
-- The King of Swamp Castle, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
"Nothing of consequence happened today. " -- Diary of King George III, July 4, 1776
"This is not bad; this is a conspiracy to remove happiness from existence. It seeks to wrap its hedgehog hand around the still beating heart of the personification of good and squeeze until it is stilled."
-- Chuck Sonnenburg on Voyager's "Elogium"
-- The King of Swamp Castle, Monty Python and the Holy Grail
"Nothing of consequence happened today. " -- Diary of King George III, July 4, 1776
"This is not bad; this is a conspiracy to remove happiness from existence. It seeks to wrap its hedgehog hand around the still beating heart of the personification of good and squeeze until it is stilled."
-- Chuck Sonnenburg on Voyager's "Elogium"