The Spirit of the Hive : The Mechanisms of Social Evolution / Robert E. Page Jr.
2013
QL568.A6 P24 2013
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Title
The Spirit of the Hive : The Mechanisms of Social Evolution / Robert E. Page Jr.
Author
ISBN
9780674075542
Published
Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2013]
Copyright
©2013
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (240 p.) : 39 halftones, 30 line illustrations, 4 tables
Item Number
10.4159/harvard.9780674075542 doi
Call Number
QL568.A6 P24 2013
Dewey Decimal Classification
595.79/9
Summary
Charles Darwin struggled to explain how forty thousand bees working in the dark, seemingly by instinct alone, could organize themselves to construct something as perfect as a honey comb. How do bees accomplish such incredible tasks? Synthesizing the findings of decades of experiments, The Spirit of the Hive presents a comprehensive picture of the genetic and physiological mechanisms underlying the division of labor in honey bee colonies and explains how bees' complex social behavior has evolved over millions of years. Robert Page, one of the foremost honey bee geneticists in the world, sheds light on how the coordinated activity of hives arises naturally when worker bees respond to stimuli in their environment. The actions they take in turn alter the environment and so change the stimuli for their nestmates. For example, a bee detecting ample stores of pollen in the hive is inhibited from foraging for more, whereas detecting the presence of hungry young larvae will stimulate pollen gathering. Division of labor, Page shows, is an inevitable product of group living, because individual bees vary genetically and physiologically in their sensitivities to stimuli and have different probabilities of encountering and responding to them. A fascinating window into self-organizing regulatory networks of honey bees, The Spirit of the Hive applies genomics, evolution, and behavior to elucidate the details of social structure and advance our understanding of complex adaptive systems in nature.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)
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Table of Contents
Frontmatter
Contents
Foreword
Preface
1. Darwin's Dilemma and the Spirit of the Hive
2. What Is the Spirit of the Hive?
3. Individual Variation in Behavior
4. The Evolution of Polyandry
5. The Phenotypic Architecture of Pollen Hoarding
6. The Genetic Architecture of Pollen Hoarding
7. Reproductive Regulation of Division of Labor
8. Developmental Regulation of Reproduction
9. The Regulatory Architecture of Pollen Hoarding
10. A Crowd of Bees
Acknowledgments
Index
Contents
Foreword
Preface
1. Darwin's Dilemma and the Spirit of the Hive
2. What Is the Spirit of the Hive?
3. Individual Variation in Behavior
4. The Evolution of Polyandry
5. The Phenotypic Architecture of Pollen Hoarding
6. The Genetic Architecture of Pollen Hoarding
7. Reproductive Regulation of Division of Labor
8. Developmental Regulation of Reproduction
9. The Regulatory Architecture of Pollen Hoarding
10. A Crowd of Bees
Acknowledgments
Index