蚁群有时被当成超级生物，即它们在群落层面上会受到自然选择的影响。在对“红色收获蚁”（Pogonomyrmex barbatus）的集体行为与群落中生殖成功率之间的关系所做的一项长期（27年）研究中，Deborah Gordon发现，它们的确能表现出这种超级生物特性。在干旱时期，“收获蚁”的觅食往往不像它们在食物丰富时那么多；它们似乎是等待时机，直到状况改善。这种懂得克制的特征会传给它们的子群落，说明它的确可被看作是一个群落层面的特征。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐英文摘要：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature12137
The rewards of restraint in the collective regulation of foraging by harvester ant colonies
Deborah M. Gordon
Collective behaviour, arising from local interactions1, allows groups to respond to changing conditions. Long-term studies have shown that the traits of individual mammals and birds are associated with their reproductive success2, 3, 4, 5, 6, but little is known about the evolutionary ecology of collective behaviour in natural populations. An ant colony operates without central control, regulating its activity through a network of local interactions7. This work shows that variation among harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) colonies in collective response to changing conditions8 is related to variation in colony lifetime reproductive success in the production of offspring colonies. Desiccation costs are high for harvester ants foraging in the desert9, 10. More successful colonies tend to forage less when conditions are dry, and show relatively stable foraging activity when conditions are more humid. Restraint from foraging does not compromise a colony’s long-term survival; colonies that fail to forage at all on many days survive as long, over the colony’s 20–30-year lifespan, as those that forage more regularly. Sensitivity to conditions in which to reduce foraging activity may be transmissible from parent to offspring colony. These results indicate that natural selection is shaping the collective behaviour that regulates foraging activity, and that the selection pressure, related to climate, may grow stronger if the current drought in their habitat persists.
