Susanne Foitzik

TL;DR: It is argued that inclusive fitness theory has been of little value in explained the natural world, and that it has led to negligible progress in explaining the evolution of eusociality, but these arguments are based upon a misunderstanding of evolutionary theory and a misrepresentation of the empirical literature.

TL;DR: Experiments in which colonies are transferred from pine sticks into artificial pine or oak nests corroborate the hypothesis that nesting material strongly influences colony odour in L. nylanderi, suggesting that colonies do not defend absolute foraging territories.

TL;DR: Investigation of the colony and population structure of the small, mynnicine ant Leptothorax (Myrafant) nylanderi in a deciduous forest near Wurzburg, Germany, where nest sites appear to be strongly limited, finds that nest sites become scarce in summer and both established colonies and young founding queens face a severe shortage of suitable nest sites.

TL;DR: This study suggests that social insect societies with stronger behavioral variation among nest members, and possibly a more efficient task allocation, are more productive in the field.

TL;DR: Aggressiveness was consistent over four to five months with a new generation of workers emerging in between trial series, and colonies with more intracolonial behavioural variation in brood care and exploration of novel objects were more productive under standardized conditions than colonies with less variation.