{"title":"The Budding Neuroscience of Ant Social Behavior","authors":"Dominic D. Frank, Daniel J.C. Kronauer","doi":"10.1146/annurev-neuro-083023-102101","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Ant physiology has been fashioned by 100 million years of social evolution. Ants perform many sophisticated social and collective behaviors yet possess nervous systems similar in schematic and scale to that of the fruit fly <jats:italic>Drosophila melanogaster</jats:italic>, a popular solitary model organism. Ants are thus attractive complementary subjects to investigate adaptations pertaining to complex social behaviors that are absent in flies. Despite research interest in ant behavior and the neurobiological foundations of sociality more broadly, our understanding of the ant nervous system is incomplete. Recent technical advances have enabled cutting-edge investigations of the nervous system in a fashion that is less dependent on model choice, opening the door for mechanistic social insect neuroscience. In this review, we revisit important aspects of what is known about the ant nervous system and behavior, and we look forward to how functional circuit neuroscience in ants will help us understand what distinguishes solitary animals from highly social ones.","PeriodicalId":8008,"journal":{"name":"Annual review of neuroscience","volume":"178 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Annual review of neuroscience","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-083023-102101","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"NEUROSCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Ant physiology has been fashioned by 100 million years of social evolution. Ants perform many sophisticated social and collective behaviors yet possess nervous systems similar in schematic and scale to that of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a popular solitary model organism. Ants are thus attractive complementary subjects to investigate adaptations pertaining to complex social behaviors that are absent in flies. Despite research interest in ant behavior and the neurobiological foundations of sociality more broadly, our understanding of the ant nervous system is incomplete. Recent technical advances have enabled cutting-edge investigations of the nervous system in a fashion that is less dependent on model choice, opening the door for mechanistic social insect neuroscience. In this review, we revisit important aspects of what is known about the ant nervous system and behavior, and we look forward to how functional circuit neuroscience in ants will help us understand what distinguishes solitary animals from highly social ones.
期刊介绍:
The Annual Review of Neuroscience is a well-established and comprehensive journal in the field of neuroscience, with a rich history and a commitment to open access and scholarly communication. The journal has been in publication since 1978, providing a long-standing source of authoritative reviews in neuroscience.
The Annual Review of Neuroscience encompasses a wide range of topics within neuroscience, including but not limited to: Molecular and cellular neuroscience, Neurogenetics, Developmental neuroscience, Neural plasticity and repair, Systems neuroscience, Cognitive neuroscience, Behavioral neuroscience, Neurobiology of disease. Occasionally, the journal also features reviews on the history of neuroscience and ethical considerations within the field.