id, i.e. they have a set of chromosomes from both their mother and their father, whereas males are haploid and only have a set from their mother. So males inherit their entire genome from their mother and never meet their father. How poetic. The differentiation between workers and queens is a complex melange of environmental and genetic factors which myrmecologists have yet to fully deconstruct, but factors such as diet and how genes are expressed at different times are likely factors that determine which females are fated to one day become queens.
Obviously, the study of these organisms in their own right is incredibly exciting (for some more than others), but specifically the investigation of their place in the wider ecological community as a group is essential in understanding terrestrial ecosystems and how they work, particularly in the tropics. As Lach and colleagues put it:
“… the study of ants has led to significant advances in our understanding of insect evolution, global biodiversity patterns, competitive interactions, mutualisms, ecosystem responses to change, and biological invasions. But ants are also important to study and understand because they are different…”
Indeed, the field of modern biogeography was furthered primarily by a mathematical ecologist (Robert H. MacArthur) and a myrmecologist (Edward O. Wilson) in their book The Theory of Island Biogeography (1967). Though much of the theory has evolved over the years, it has its roots in studying the ants of Melanesia (MacArthur and Wilson, 1963).
From their vast ecological importance and their interesting life-histories, to their use as model organisms to study sociality and species distributions, ants are certainly worth caring about just that little bit more.
AntCat (2019): http://antcat.org/
Floren, A., Biun, A., & Linsenmair, E. K. (2002). Arboreal ants as key predators in tropical lowland rainforest trees. Oecologia, 131(1), 137-144.
Lach, L., Parr, C., & Abbott, K. (Eds.). (2010). Ant ecology. Oxford University Press.
Lucas, J. M., Clay, N. A., & Kaspari, M. (2018). Nutrient transfer supports a beneficial relationship between the canopy ant, Azteca trigona, and its host tree. Ecological Entomology.
Hölldobler, B., & Wilson, E. O. (1990). The ants. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, USA.
Hölldobler, B., & Wilson, E. O. (1994). Journey to the ants: a story of scientific exploration. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, USA.
Hölldobler, B., & Wilson, E. O. (2009). The Superorganism. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., London, UK.
MacArthur, R. H., & Wilson, E. O. (1963). An equilibrium theory of insular zoogeography. Evolution, 17(4), 373-387.
MacArthur, R. H., & Wilson, E. O. (1967). The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press. New Jersey, USA.
Wirth, R., Herz, H., Ryel, R. J., Beyschlag, W., & Hölldobler, B. (2013). Herbivory of leaf-cutting ants: a case study on Atta colombica in the tropical rainforest of Panama (Vol. 164). Springer Science & Business Media.