Friday, 4 August 2006: 10:00 AM-12:20 PM
Congressional (Omni Shoreham Hotel)
Symposium 22: Structure, function and dynamics of social networks
The essence and success of social insect colonies lie in the intricate functional links that connect the numerous colony members with each other. These links facilitate the exchange of information and materials, but could also make the colony vulnerable to attack from pathogens that could use these links to spread rapidly. Therefore, it seems likely that the network structure of the colony is probably a product of strong but opposing selection pressures. Of late, the dynamics of social networks have been of enormous interest to areas ranging from computer science to epidemiology, and the challenge to build efficient networks that are also stable to invasion by foreign agents has been a dominant focus of research. Social insect colonies, which are not only more experimentally amenable than many other complex systems but are also products of natural selection, could provide a powerful test of theories of network dynamics. In this symposium, we will discuss social insect colonies as examples of efficient and resilient networks.
Organizer:Dhruba Naug
10:00 AM243Do Social Insects Form Dominance Hierarchies in the Same Way that Vertebrates Do?
Ivan D. Chase, Brent Lindquist
10:20 AM244Ergonomic networks and division of labor
Jennifer H. Fewell, Thomas Taylor
10:40 AM245How does pollen deprivation and social deprivation affect food exchange and other social contacts in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)
Ulrike Riessberger-Gallé, Thomas Schmickl, Karl Crailsheim
11:00 AM246Consequences of scented food distribution inside the honeybee hive
Walter Farina, Christoph Grüter, Andrés Arenas, Vanesa Fernandez
11:20 AM247Transmission Dynamics in a Social Network: Organizational Immunity of the Honey Bee Colony
Dhruba Naug
11:40 AM248Contact networks and pathogen transmission in bumble bees
Michael C. Otterstatter, Athena Fung, James D. Thomson
12:00 PM249Simple models for the transmission of pheromones within a honey bee nest
James Watmough
Sponsor:Invited Symposia Presentations

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