Abstract | Cilj ovog seminara bio je dati literarni pregled određivanja kasti u strukturi mravlje kolonije i raznih načina komunikacije unutar kolonije. Mravi su porodica kukaca iz reda opnokrilaca (Hymenoptera). Žive zadružno u izgrađenim nastambama koje zovemo mravinjaci. Polimorfne su životinje što znači da postoji više oblika odraslih jedinki. To su: kraljica, trutovi, radnici i interkaste (primjer vojnik).. Usni organi su im za griženje, a krila imaju samo trutovi i kraljica kada je vrijeme za parenje. Kraljica se pari samo jednom u životu i potom do kraja života živi u mravinjaku i polaže jaja. Svi članovi zajednice rade u korist očuvanja kraljice i cijele kolonije. Mravi su naselili sve kontinente osim Antarktike te imaju veliku ekološku važnost. Prorahljuju tlo, raznose sjemenke te jedu uginule organizme. U koloniji može biti samo jedna kraljica ili više njih. U slučaju kada ih je više ne dolazi do međusobne agresije ili kompeticije. Mravi prolazi kroz potpunu preobrazbu (holometabolija) koja uključuje i stadij kukuljice. Juvenilni hormon i hormon ekdison utječu na to koliko će vremena proći prije preobrazbe ličinke, a količina hrane utječe na postanak kraljice. Ekdison potiče prijelaz iz stadija ličinke u stadij kukuljice prilikom svakog presvlačenje a juvenilni hormon to zaustavlja. Omjer ta dva hormona dakle igra veliku ulogu u određivanju kaste svake jedinke. Mravi kao eusocijalni kukci komuniciraju međusobno zbog potrage za hranom, podjele rada, grupiranja, obrane kolonije itd. Komuniciraju pomoću ugljikovodika, feromona i škljocanjem čeljusti. Kemijski sastav CHC-a (eng. cuticular hydrocarbons = kutikularni ugljikovodici) svakoj koloniji daje specifičan miris i pomoću toga razaznaju pripadnike svoje kolonije od ostalih mrava. Feromone luče iz žlijezda na svome tijelu i pomoću njih javljaju drugim mravima informacije o kvaliteti izvora hrane, njenoj količini te udaljenosti od mravinjaka. Neke vrste mrava mogu razumjeti i feromonske tragove drugih vrsta mrava te koristiti te informacije. To je primjer interspecijske interakcije. One kod mrava mogu biti mutualističke, parazitske ili kompetitivne. postoje i invazivne vrste mrava. Jedno od najpoznatijih/najrasprostanjenijih?Najpoznatiji su vatreni crveni mrav Solenopsis invicta i argentinski mrav Linepithema humile koji stvaraju velike ekonomske štete. Neke od zajedničkih značajki svih invazivnih vrsta mrava su: smanjena agresija, poliginija (pojava nekoliko spolno zrelih kraljica u jednoj koloniji), generalistička prehrana itd. Kod invazivnih vrsta mrava također se javlja pojam superkolonija. To je udruženje više kolonija koje međusobno surađuju te čak izmjenjuju radnike i kraljice. Superkolonije se mogu širiti preko 2,5 kvadratnih kilometara i sadržavati 45 000 gnijezda, više od 300 milijuna radnika i više od 1 milijun kraljica. Jedna od najvećih zabilježenih superkolonija je upravo ona argentinskog mrava. Proteže se preko 6000 kilometara, od sjevera Italije, preko juga Francuske pa sve do atlantske obale španjolske i sadrži milijarde mrava i milijune gnijezda. |
Abstract (english) | The main goal of this paperwork was to give literary review of determination of castes in ant colonies and different ways of ant communication. Ants are family of insects that belong to the order of Hymenoptera. The live cooperatively in built structures called anthill. They are polymoprh animals which means there are more forms of adults members of species. Which are: a queen, drones, workers and interkastes (example soldier). Ants are build like typical insects: body divided on head, thorax and gastor, six legs, compound eyes and antennae. Mouth organs are for biting and wings are only possesed by drones and queen in mating time. The queen mates only once in a lifetime and after that she lives in an anthill and lays eggs for the rest of her life. All members of the community work for the benefit of the queen and the colony. Ants have populated all continents except for Antarctica and have great ecological importance. They loose the ground, spread the seeds and eat dead organisms. There can be only one queen or more of them in one colony. There is no agression or competition between the queens when there are more than one queen in the colony. Like most of the insects, ants also go through complete metamorphosis which includes the pupa life stage. Juvenile hormone and ecdysone hormone affect how much time will pass before the metamorphosis and the amount of food affects the development of the queen. Ecdysone stimulates the transition from the pupa life stagy to the adult life stage during every moulting and juvenile hormone stops it. Ratio of that two hormones plays a great part in determination of caste of each individual. Ants are eusocial insects and the communicate mutually for the purpose of foraging, division of labor, grouping, defending the colony etc. They communicate with cuticular hydrocarbons, pheromones and by clicking with their mandibule. Chemical composition of CHCs gives specific odor to each colony and with that they can discern members of their colony from others. Pheromones are secreted from glands all over the body and with them they can give other ants informations about the quallity and quantity of food source and its distance from the anthill. Some ant species can undestand pheromone traces of the other ants and use that informations. It is the example of interspecies interaction. In ants they can be mutualistic, parasitic and competitive. Considering their success ofcourse there are also invasive species of ants. The most known are probably the fire red ant Solenopsis invicta and the argentine ant Linepithema humile that cause a great economical damage. Some of the common features of all invasive ants are: reduced agression, polyginy (phenomenon of more than one queen in a colony) , generalistic diet etc. When talking about invasive ants we can also talk about a term supercolony. It is the association of more colonies that cooperate
mutually and even exchange their workers and queens. Supercolonies can spread over 2,5 kilometres square and contain 45000 nests , over 300 million workers and over a million queens. One of the largest confirmed supercolonies i the one of the argentine ant. It spread along 6000 kilometres, from the north Italy, over south France to spanish atlantic coast and it contains billions of ants and millions of nests. |