Biology at the Lyceum. Why are bees and ants called social insects? Features of the complex behavior of social insects: a description. How social insects differ from solitary ones: comparison, similarities and differences Public insects bees and

Many species of highly developed insects (termites, bees, ants, wasps) live in complex communities. They have such a well-organized organization that sometimes they resemble a "superorganism" that is powered by a queen queen.

BIG FAMILIES

In numerous "states" of insects, which form termites, ants, some species of bees and wasps, each member of the community - the uterus, workers, soldiers and drones - performs its own, clearly regulated function. Such a division of labor is the main condition for the existence of the colony. Individuals of such a community are so dependent on each other that they can no longer exist independently. For example, working termites are guarded by well-armed soldiers who are not able to survive without workers, since they cannot get food on their own and depend on the workers - they feed them. In turn, workers and soldiers are not able to reproduce. The function of reproduction of offspring lies on the uterus , around which the colony is formed. The queen lives inside the nest, she is fed by workers, and soldiers protect. All bees of one colony, and there may be about 80,000 of them, are descendants of one queen and older sisters to newborn individuals. They are all genetic twins, therefore have a highly developed social instinct.

FORMATION OF A COLONY

In autumn, with the onset of cold weather, all individuals of the wasp colony die, with the exception of fertilized queens. Shortly before the nest disappears, several sexually mature pairs appear in the colony of wasps, which fly away and mate. Males soon die, and females, feeling the approach of winter, hide in warm places. In the spring, the fertilized queens come out of their shelters and each of them builds a nest from wood treated with special enzymes, consisting of 10-12 hexagonal cells. Eggs are placed in these cells of the uterus. The queen queen feeds the larvae with gruel from semi-digested insects. The larvae grow rapidly and soon turn into sterile worker wasps. After the birth of workers, the queen no longer does any economic affairs, she only lays eggs, and the workers build new cells, take care of the eggs and grow larvae. social system some species of ants and termites are somewhat more difficult. Worker ants are divided into several castes, depending on the work they perform. Some, for example, have the task of spraying enemies with formic acid, that is, waging a kind of “chemical war”, while others are delivering nectar to the warehouse. Termite larvae are miniature copies of adults. They develop into soldiers who have powerful jaws or a stinging apparatus that secretes a sticky substance that can become a trap for enemies.Termite workers and soldiers are wingless and blind individuals.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION

In most insect species, with the exception of the breeding season, there is no need for communication. In social insects, on the contrary, communication between members of the colony is vital. Some species have developed a perfect system for transmitting information. Body language is often used for this. For example, honey bees, with the help of a special dance, very accurately inform their fellow tribesmen along the hive about the way to the place where, according to them, there is a source of nectar. Ants use a different method. Having found a significant source of food, they return to the anthill, leaving behind a persistent odorous trail. Other ants, following this path, also leave their odorous marks, which is a guide for the rest of the colony. Pheromones play a very important role in the life of all types of social insects. Hungry larvae secrete a special substance that is the signal "feed me". The uterus secretes its pheromones and thus sends its own signal to the workers, reminding them of their duties. At certain intervals, the workers exchange glandular secretions with the queen, and thus a close relationship is maintained between them A community of many insects that has lost a queen is doomed to death: insects do not know what to do, for example, workers stop working.Worker bees, left without a queen, can grow a new one: for this they build special cells and feed the larvae with special food.

termites

The social structure of termites is made up of three types of insects: the uterus (queen), soldiers and workers.
Uterus: lives in the center of the colony. She has a large body with hypertrophied ovaries (up to 10 cm long) that constantly produce eggs - many millions of eggs throughout her life. The winged male who fertilized the female dies. The queen lives for about 10 years.
soldiers: large and darker than workers, with large heads and extremely strong jaws. They guard and protect the colony from enemies.
workers: small, soft-bodied insects white color. They build a nest and maintain order in it. Unlike other social insects, worker termites come in both sexes.

Ants

Almost all ant species are social insects. They live in anthills.
Uterus: its only task is to take care of procreation, to lay eggs.
workers: wingless sterile males up to 30 mm long. They take care of the queen, larvae, build and repair the anthill. If the anthill is attacked by enemies and there is no one to "fight", then the workers defend the colony.
soldiers: Like workers, they are wingless and barren, but somewhat larger, with large heads and powerful jaws. Their task is to protect the anthill from enemies.

bees

Bees live in communities of up to 60,000 insects.
Uterus: the only one in the entire colony. The queen manages the hive and lays eggs. It has no organs to collect pollen, so workers feed it.
workers: collect pollen and nectar from flowers, feed juveniles, queen bee, drones and guard the colony. They build honeycombs, consisting of regular hexagonal cells, which are a storehouse for honey and an incubator for eggs. Worker bees communicate information to each other about food-rich places with the help of a special dance, accurately indicating the distance to them and the direction of flight.
Drones: their only purpose is the fertilization of the uterus. Drones are fed by worker bees. After mating, they die.

wasps

Some public views wasps live in large colonies. Unlike bees and termites, the nest is used only for one summer. In autumn, all wasps die out. Only fertilized founding females hibernate and build a new nest in spring. Wasp nests are built from cellulose - pieces of wood mixed with saliva.

Insects living in a single community: ants, wasps, bees and termites have always aroused special interest and surprise among people. This is reflected in numerous myths, legends and traditions. AT ancient Greek mythology Ants were the symbol of the goddess Demeter. And one of the most ancient images found in Europe turned out to be the Queen of the Hive. Social insects play a critical role in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. Wasps and most of the ants act as predators, termites, especially in tropical ecosystems, as the most important destroyers of plant residues, and social bees are pollinators of many wild and cultivated plants and producers of medicinal products.
Hierarchical intra-family ties and complex structures of interaction between community members still attract the close attention of scientists. To solve a riddle collective mind Humanity has tried animals since ancient times, and judging by the fact that our ancestors used images of insects for the image of the gods, it indicates that they understood this secret and actively used it to control human communities.
What is the essence of this natural phenomenon? What is going on?

BEES - PUBLIC INSECTS. In the world of animals with Nikolai Drozdov. Video (00:04:59)

Nests of social insects: bees, wasps and ants. Video (00:45:14)

social insects. Most insects lead a solitary lifestyle. However, there is also social insects. These include termites, bumblebees, wasps, ants, and bees. The community of these insects is one big extended family. There are separate groups in the family that perform different functions: they collect food, share it with each other, take care of the larvae, and protect the nest.

Most of the ants living in an anthill (Fig. 104) are wingless working individuals - these are barren females. Their number sometimes reaches a million. In addition to them, a queen lives in an anthill. She doesn't have wings either. She breaks them off after the nuptial flight. All her life she lays eggs, and all the care of the anthill lies with the worker ants. They forage, repair and clean the anthill, feed the larvae and the queen, defend the anthill in case of attack by enemies.

Once a year, at the beginning of summer, winged females and males appear from pupae in the anthill, which go on a mating flight. After mating, the males die, and the females shed their wings and found a new anthill. Most ants are predators. Some feed on the sweet secretions of aphids. To do this, ants guard, "graze" these insects that feed on plants, sometimes build shelters for them.

Rice. 104. Cross section of an anthill: 1 - chambers with eggs; 2 - chambers with larvae: 3 - chambers with pupae

Other types of ants are bred in underground chambers to feed on mushrooms, bringing crushed plant leaves there. There are herbivorous ants. Ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae, legs, and head. In addition, they have a "chemical language" - they secrete special substances with which they mark their paths. By smell, ants recognize relatives and enemies.

The honey bee is a social insect. A large family of bees has up to 100 thousand individuals that live in a hive (Fig. 105, A). Most of the insects in the hive are worker bees. These are barren females, in which the modified ovipositor serves as a sting. They clean the hive, collect nectar, take care of the queen and larvae, protect the hive from enemies. They live only one season (about a year). In a bee family, the main bee is the queen, which lays eggs - up to 2000 per day. She lives for about five years. In the spring, in May - June, a new uterus and several dozen males, which are called drones, appear in the bee family from the pupae: they do not take any part in the work, and their main task is to fertilize the uterus. The old female leaves the hive with part of the worker bees - swarming occurs. The beekeepers collect the swarm and settle it in a new hive. In autumn, the worker bees drive the remaining drones out of the hive and they die.

Rice. 105. Bees: A - bee hive; B - scheme of the "dance" of bees

All care about the hive lies with the worker bees: growing up, each worker bee changes several "professions". First, they build combs, clean the cells, feed the larvae, take food from the arriving bees and distribute it in the hive, ventilate the hive, guard it, and finally start flying out of the hive for nectar. Bees communicate with each other, like ants, through touch and secretions.

However, only bees have a "language of dance". With the help of special body movements and movements, one bee can tell others where the nectar-rich flowering plants(Fig. 105, B). The scout bee "dances" in the hive on the combs.

The complex behavior of social insects is called instinctive, because instinct is a set of innate forms of behavior, fixed hereditarily and characteristic certain kind animals. The behavior of social insects is so complex that it leads many people to believe that it is intelligent. However, these actions of animals are instinctive, unconscious.

The honey bee has long been bred by man. It is distributed throughout the globe. A person receives wax, honey, various medications(propolis, bee venom, bee milk).

On the bottom side The abdomen of the worker bee contains special glands that secrete wax. Bees build honeycombs from it. On the hind legs bees have areas surrounded by long chitinous hairs - baskets. The bees crawl over the flowers and the pollen gets on their body hairs. Then the bee cleans the pollen into the basket with the help of special brushes on the paws of the legs. Soon a ball of pollen is formed there - a pollen, which the bee transfers to the hive. Perga - honey-soaked pollen - serves as a reserve of protein food for the bee colony.

Worker bees have a kind of expansion of the esophagus - honey goiter. From the nectar collected from the flowers, which passed through the honey goiter, the main food supply of the bee family is formed - honey. Cells are filled with honey, which the bees cover with a thin wax layer. For a year, up to 100 kg of honey can be obtained from one bee family.

Although man has been breeding bees for a long time, collapsible frame hives were invented relatively recently - in 1814. Russian beekeeper P.I. Prokopovich. Prior to this, in order to extract honey from a bee nest, which, as a rule, was located in a hollowed-out log of a tree, it was necessary to break the honeycomb, that is, to ruin the bee colony. The surviving swarm of bees can live independently, without human help. This indicates that bees are not yet fully domesticated.

Silkworm. There are other insects that are beneficial to humans. Such are the silkworms. it single insect, not found in nature in the wild (Fig. 106). His females even "forgot how" to fly. An adult insect is a thick butterfly with whitish wings with a span of up to 6 cm. The caterpillars of this silkworm eat only mulberry leaves, or mulberries.

Rice. 106. Stages of development of the silkworm: 1 - female laying grena; 2 - caterpillar; 3 - formation of a cocoon; 5 - pupae in a cocoon

Scientists suggest that in the wild, the ancestor of the silkworm lived in the foothills of the Himalayas. Silkworm breeding began in China around 3000 BC. e. Nowadays, this insect is completely domesticated. Now it is bred in China, Japan, Indochina, Southern Europe, South America, Central Asia and the Caucasus - where the mulberry grows ( Mulberry tree). There are several dozen breeds of silkworms, differing in length, strength and color of the silk thread they produce.

Female silkworms lay eggs (each - up to 600 eggs), which are called grena. Caterpillars emerge from them. These caterpillars are kept in special rooms on the aft shelves, fed with mulberry leaves. When pupating, each caterpillar spins a cocoon from a very thin thread for three days, the length of which reaches 1500 m.

The silk thread is secreted by a special silk gland located on the lower lip of the caterpillar.

Ready-made cocoons are collected by silkworm breeders, treated with hot steam, and then silk threads are unwound with special machines. Part of the cocoons is left for breeding butterflies for reproduction.

Silk is used in light industry for tissue production, in medicine (threads are made from it for stitching wounds) and in aviation.

Insect protection. Man has a great influence on environment(plows up virgin steppes, cuts down forests, uses pesticides). Therefore, the number of many species of animals, including insects, is declining. Some species are on the verge of extinction. Concerning rare species insects are taken under oxpairy. Red Books have been created, which contain information about specially protected rare animals (Fig. 107), the reasons for their plight and protection measures. Among the insects of our country, listed in the Red Book, there is a steppe hump - a large steppe grasshopper that lives in the steppes in southern Russia. The area of ​​distribution of this grasshopper has decreased due to the plowing of virgin steppes. From beetles, several species of large predatory beetles - ground beetles - got on the pages of the Red Book. On South Far East the largest beetle in Russia is protected - the relic woodcutter, whose body length reaches 10.8 cm, the length of the larva is up to 17 cm. It got into the pages of the Red Book in connection with the cutting down of old trees, in the wood of which its larvae develop.

Rice. 107. Rare and protected insects: 1 - steppe chump; 2 - Apollo; 3 - Far Eastern relic woodcutter; 4 - Caucasian ground beetle; 5 - wall bumblebee; 6 - mother-of-pearl zenobium

Many species of bumblebees are also listed in the Red Book, for example, the changeable bumblebee and the steppe bumblebee. Among the butterflies listed in the Red Book, one can name Apollo, Mpemosina, mother-of-pearl Zenobia. They are protected by the Law "On the Protection of Wildlife".

The role of insects in natural communities is enormous. Insects are the most important pollinators of flowering plants. They serve as food for various invertebrates (spiders, centipedes), fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and animals, even some insectivorous plants (dew). There are many orderlies among insects who help to process minerals organic remains of plants and animals. Soil insects and their larvae increase soil fertility by mixing and fertilizing it with their excrement. The role of insects in the cycle of substances in nature is great.

Lesson learned exercises

1. What features of behavior and lifestyle are characteristic of the inhabitants of the anthill?
2. Describe the composition of the bee colony and the functions of each group of bees.
3. Why are ants and bees classified as social insects? Explain their significance in nature and in human life.
4. On the basis of what signs is the silkworm classified as a domestic animal? What is the meaning in economic activity human has this insect?

Social and domesticated insects

Most insects lead a solitary lifestyle. However, there is alsosocial insects . These includetermites, bumblebees, wasps, bees, ants . The community of these insects is one big extended family. Social insects share food with each other, take care of the larvae together, and guard the nest.

Bees and ants are social insects

bees.The social insects arehoney bee . A large family of bees has up to 100 thousand individuals that live in a hive. Most of the insects in the hiveworkers bees. These are infertile females in which a modified ovipositor serves assting . They clean the hive, collect nectar, take care of the queen and larvae, protect the hive from enemies. They live one warm season (less than a year). In a bee family, the main bee isuterus , which lays eggs - up to 2000 per day. The queen is larger than the worker bees. She lives for about five years. In the spring, in May - June, a new queen and several dozen males appear from the pupae in the bee colony, which are calleddrones: they do not take any part in the work, and their main task is the fertilization of the uterus. In autumn, the worker bees drive the remaining drones out of the hive and they die.

All care about the hive lies with the worker bees: growing up, each worker bee changes several "professions". She builds combs, cleans cells, feeds larvae, takes food from incoming bees and distributes it in the hive, ventilates the hive, guards it, and finally begins to fly out of the hive for nectar. Bees communicate with each other in the same way as ants - with the help of touch and excreted substances.

However, only bees have a "language of dance". With the help of special gestures and movements, one bee can tell others where the nectar-rich flowering plants are.. The scout bee "dances" in the hive on the combs.

On the underside of the abdomen of the worker bee are special glands that secretewax . From it, bees, thanks to complex instincts, buildhoneycomb . On the hind legs of bees there are areas surrounded by long chitinous hairs - baskets. The bees crawl over the flowers, and the pollen falls on the hairs of the insect's body. Then the bee cleans the pollen into the basket with the help of special brushes on the paws of the legs. Soon a ball of pollen is formed there - a pollen, which the bee transfers to the hive.Perga - Pollen impregnated with honey - serves as a reserve of protein food for the bee colony.

Worker bees have a peculiar expansion of the esophagus -honey goiter . From the nectar collected from the flowers, which passed through the honey goiter, the main food supply of the bee family is formed -honey . Cells are filled with honey, which the bees cover with a thin wax layer. For a year, up to 100 kg of honey can be obtained from one bee family.

Although man has been breeding bees for a long time, collapsible frame hives were invented relatively recently - in 1814 by the Ukrainian beekeeper P. I. Prokopovich. Prior to this, in order to extract honey from a bee nest, which, as a rule, was located in a hollowed-out log of a tree, it was necessary to break the honeycomb, that is, to ruin the bee colony. The surviving swarm of bees can live independently, without human help. This indicates that bees are not yet fully domesticated.

Ants- social hymenoptera. They do not have a sting, but a poisonous gland has been preserved, thanks to which they can protect themselves from enemies. Red forest ants are of great benefit to the forest. Ants of one anthill eat tens of thousands of insects per day and protect the forest on an area of ​​0.2 hectares from pests. They live in families.

The anthill consists of aboveground and underground parts. Most of the ants living in the anthill are wingless working individuals - these are barren females. Their number sometimes reaches a million. In addition to them, a queen lives in an anthill. She doesn't have wings either. She breaks them off after the nuptial flight. All her life she lays eggs, and all the care of the anthill lies with the worker ants. They forage, repair and clean the anthill, feed the larvae and the queen, defend the anthill in case of attack by enemies. Once a year, at the beginning of summer, winged females and males appear from pupae in the anthill, which go on a mating flight. After mating, the males die, and the females shed their wings and found a new anthill. They can also get into the anthill in which their development took place.

Most ants are predators. Some feed on the sweet secretions of aphids. For this, ants guard, "graze"these insects that feed on plants, and sometimes build shelters for them. Other species of ants breed mushrooms in underground chambers for their food, bringing crushed plant leaves for this. There are herbivorous ants.

Ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae, legs, and head. In addition, they have a "chemical language" - they secrete special substances with which they mark their paths. By smell, ants recognize relatives and enemies.

FROM the false behavior of social insects is called instinctive because instinct - a set of innate moments of behavior, fixed hereditarily and characteristic of a certain type of animal. The behavior of bees, ants, and some other animals is so amazing and complex that it leads many people to believe that it is intelligent. However, these actions of animals are instinctive, unconscious.

domesticated insects

There is only one completelydomesticated insect , not found in nature in the wild, -silkworm ; females of this species even "forgot how" to fly. An adult insect is a thick butterfly with whitish wings with a span of up to 6 cm. The caterpillars of this silkworm eat only mulberry leaves, or mulberries.

Scientists suggest that in the wild, the ancestor of the silkworm lived in the foothills of the Himalayas. The butterfly was domesticated in China around 3,000 BC. e. Nowadays, this insect is completely domesticated. It is bred in China, Japan, the countries of Indochina, in Southern Europe, South America, Central Asia and the Caucasus - where the mulberry tree can grow. There are several dozen breeds of silkworms, differing in length, strength and color of the silk thread they produce.

Silkworm females lay eggs (each female - up to 600 eggs), which are calledgrenay . Caterpillars emerge from them. These caterpillars are fed with mulberry leaves in special rooms on the aft shelves. When pupating, each caterpillar viet for three days.

Lesson topic : Bees and ants are public insects. Beneficial insects, insect pests.Significance in nature and human life.

Lesson Objectives: reveal the structural features of the honey bee and ant in connection with the social way of life; talk about their role in nature and human life; reveal the diversity of insect pests, their negative role in human practical activity; indicate the importance of insects in nature and human life.

Equipment: insect collection,multimedia projector, presentation, handouts: tables, sheets of paper, felt-tip pens.

During the classes:

I. org. moment (1 min) II. Updating of basic knowledge(10 min) Test work with mutual verification.

Write down the test numbers, against each - correct options response

Option 1.

A. Dragonflies B. Orthoptera C. Bed bugs

1. Two pairs of wings.
2. The larva has a mask.

Option 2.

What features are characteristic of insects from the order

A. Butterflies B. Diptera C. Hymenoptera

1. Development with complete transformation.
2. Development with incomplete transformation.
3. Two pairs of wings.
4. One pair of wings, the second is reduced (halteres) and serves to stabilize the flight.
5. The first pair of wings are turned into rigid elytra, the second pair are leathery wings.
6. The forewings are denser than the hindwings.
7. The elytra are dense in front and soft behind; the second pair of wings is used for flight.
8. On the wings are small chitinous scales.
9. Mouth apparatus in adult insects of the sucking type.
10. Mouth apparatus licking type.
11. The mouthparts of adult insects are of the piercing-sucking type.
12. In larvae oral apparatus chewing type.
13. The hind legs of many representatives of the jumping type.
14. The larva has a mask.

Option 1. A: 2,3,14; B: 2, 3.7.12.13; B : 2,6,11

Option 2. A: 1.3.8.9.12 B: 1.4.10.11 C: 1.3

III. Activation cognitive activity . (2 minutes)

Most insects lead a solitary lifestyle, but there are insects that live in large groups. What are these insects? (bees, ants, termites) Such insects are called public and they live in families.

IV. learning new material(25min)

Teacher's story.

What do you think, which of these insects have long become human pets? (bees)

Where do bees live? (hive)

Honey and wax along with our furs ancestors - Slavs were considered the main objects of trade. Honey was used instead of sugar, wax was used in candles. In those days, there were no apiaries yet, and for bees, a person provided hollows of forest trees - “bortni” - beekeeping. At the same time, the hives often went bankrupt.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Ukrainian landowner Petr Ivanovich Prokopovich first used the collapsible frame beehive he invented, which is still used today.

Let's look at what a bee family is.

Student message.The composition of the bee family. (presentation)

As the story progresses, students complete the table.

Students independently fill in the table for the ant family section, using the textbook pp. 135-136.

Table. The composition of the ant and bee families:

During the assignment, the teacher ensures that the whole class is involved in the work, approaches the students, monitors the progress of the assignment, and, if necessary, makes corrections.

After completing the task, the teacher asks the class questions:

• Did everyone complete the task?
• What difficulties arose during the task, what was not clear?

Bees and ants communicate with each other through touch and secretions. But only bees have a "language of dance." Video clip.

Do you think such complex behavior can be called reasonable? (No)

Their behavior is instinctive, unconscious.

Notebook entry. Instinct- a set of innate moments of behavior, fixed hereditarily and characteristic of a certain type of animal.

Apart from beneficial insects there are also pests of cultivated plants and vectors of human diseases.

The study of the material occurs in the course of the conversation. Students work with handouts: tables, insects.

Exercise : determine which order your insect belongs to and what harm it does to cultivated plants. Answer plan:

1. The name of the squad.

2. The name of the insect.

3. Signs of the detachment.

4. Meaning.

The negative value of insects for humans

Students write their answers in a notebook. Several students are asked. Ratings are given.

Additionally . What methods can be used to control harmful insects?

During the conversation, it turns out that the proposed options can be divided into four groups:

Methods of human struggle with harmful insects

V. Fixing the material.(4 min)

What insects did we meet today?

What are the characteristics of families?

What insects harm agricultural plants? Describe the life of some of them.

VI. Reflection. (1min) Draw your mood as a smiley.

VII. D/W Review topics in the arthropod section. Preparation for control work.

Application. The uterus is the largest bee in the hive, 18-20 mm in size. It has a long abdomen with an ovipositor designed for permanent egg laying. Cannot eat on its own. It is fed by worker bees with goiter milk. There is always only one in the family. The uterus develops from fertilized eggs. Lives up to 5 years. When another queen appears, the old one flies away with a part of the bees. This process is called swarming.

Drones are male, with long wings and large eyes. They develop from unfertilized eggs. Their task is to fertilize the uterus. Live for one season. In autumn they die, they are stinged by worker bees or simply kicked out of the hive.

Worker bees are sterile females. Workers - ensure the life of the whole family (collect food, care for the larvae, feed them, clean the hive, build honeycombs, harvest honey). To perform these functions, they have a number of devices:

• oral apparatus;
• Body covered with villi;
• honey goiter;
• Sting-modified ovipositor;
• Hind limbs with baskets and brushes.