社会性昆虫社会身份识别机制研究进展

Research advances on social identity recognition mechanisms in social insects

昆虫社会身份识别是指昆虫通过感知各种信息来辨别其他个体的身份,进而建立一定社会关系的生物学现象。社会身份识别对社会性昆虫的信息交流、天敌防御、社会分工、个体及群体生存和繁衍尤为重要。本文以蚂蚁、白蚁和蜜蜂等社会性昆虫为例,详细阐述了社会性昆虫的社会身份识别机制:社会性昆虫以信息素为关键线索,利用嗅觉实现社会身份的识别;社会性昆虫也通过其视觉观察同伴或天敌等个体的行为,实现社会身份的识别;社会性昆虫还能够识别特殊的声音信号和感知空气中的震波,并作为其社会身份识别的重要依据。此外,研究表明昆虫共生菌也参与调控社会性昆虫的身份识别。针对社会性昆虫身份识别是先天还是后天形成的这一争论,我们从基因、适应学习以及基因和环境互作等方面,阐述了昆虫可能通过先天遗传和后天学习相结合的方式实现社会身份识别的观点。社会性昆虫是研究人类和动物社会行为学的绝佳模式生物。社会身份识别的研究成果不仅可深入解析社会性昆虫的生物学特性,也对人类及其他动物的社会认知进化以及各类社会问题的研究提供重要参考。今后应加强以下两方面的研究:(1)探索社会性昆虫多样的识别方式,解码其更深层次的机制研究;(2)应用现代新型计算机技术,将社会性昆虫身份识别行为可视化分析。

Insect social identity recognition refers to a biological phenomenon that insects can recognize the identity of other individuals through the perception of various cues,and then establish certain social relationships.Social identity recognition is particularly important for information exchange,defence against natural enemies,social division of labour,and individual and group survival and reproduction of social insects.In this article,social insects such as ants,termites and bees were used as examples to elaborate the mechanism of social identity recognition.Social insects use pheromones as the key cues to realize social identity recognition through olfaction,and also realize social identity recognition through visual observation of individual behaviours from their nest mates or natural enemies.Social insects can also recognize special sound signals and sense seismic waves in the air,which serve as an important basis for their social identity recognition.In addition,previous studies have shown that insect symbiotic bacteria are also involved in the social identity recognition of social insects.In light of the debate on whether social insect identity is formed by nature or nurture,we argued that insects may realize the social identity recognition through a combination of innate inheritance and acquired learning from the aspects of genes,adaptive learning and interaction between genes and environment.Social insects are excellent model organisms for studies on social behaviours of humans and other animals.Therefore,new findings on social identity recognition of social insects can not only expand our understandings on their biological characteristics,but also provide scientific bases for studies on the evolution of social cognition and various social problems in humans and other animals.The research in the following two aspects should be strengthened in the future:(1)to explore the various recognition methods of social insects and decipher their deeper mechanisms;and(2)to apply modern new computer technology to visualise and analyze the identity recognition behaviour of social insects.