Bert Hölldobler and linkurl:Edward O. Wilson,;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/14350/ who won a linkurl:Pulitzer Prize;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/10820/ for their book linkurl:__The Ants__,;http://www.amazon.com/Ants-Bert-H%C3%B6lldobler/dp/0674040759 have followed up with linkurl:__The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies__.;http://www.amazon.com/Superorganism-Beauty-Elegance-Strangeness-Societies/dp/0393067041 Here we excerpt their work - sure to become a central text on the biology of linkurl:colonial insects;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22363/ that function as a coordinated organism - and provide a glimpse at the linkurl:stunning photographs;http://images.the-scientist.com/content/images/slideshows/super_organism/super_organism.html that accompany the book.Chapter 1 - "The Construction of a Superorganism" __...by stressing the algorithms that direct the self-construction of colonies, we hope to assist in establishing more clearly the relevance of linkurl:sociobiology;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/11739/ to the general principles of developmental biology and linkurl:systems theory.__;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/54988/Chapter 2 - "Genetic Social Evolution" __The ultimate agent of linkurl:natural selection;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/54573/ at all levels is always the environment. The cell is the environment for the genes and organelles, while the world outside the organism is the environment for the organism and colony....
Slideshow: The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies
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