Under natural conditions, living organisms can exist in different ways. For example, if individual individuals live together and benefit each other, then we are talking about a colony. In biology, this is a special form of coexistence. Consider what its features are and give examples of living creatures that live that way.
Definition
A colony in biology is a specific form of cohabitation of a number of organisms in a single territory, the peculiarity of which is the presence of mutual benefit. Each member of such a community is assigned certain functions, and their joint activity is aimed at survival.
The simplest example of a colony in biology is a bee hive. In one such "house" can live up to 150 thousand individuals, while the functions of the inhabitants are different:
- Uterus. Her task is to reproduce offspring. In any bee family she is always alone.
- Drones. These seemingly useless inhabitants of the hive, nevertheless play a role - they mate with the uterus. Worker bees take care of them for some time, but as soon as the drones fulfill their “duty”, closer to the fall, they are expelled and they die.
- Working individuals. This is the basis of the bee family, such individuals in the hive most. They perform various tasks: replenish the supply of nutrients in the hive, produce propolis, honey, wax; look after the offspring.
This is a classic example of a colony in biology. This is a collection of insects of one species that live in a single territory, each of them by nature itself has certain responsibilities, their coexistence is mutually beneficial.
Signs
Consider a number of features that will distinguish a colony from other forms of insect habitat:
- All individuals live in a separate nest (hive, anthill, termite).
- Separation of duties between individuals.
- Organization of joint care for the offspring.
- Most often, the nest of such insects has a complex device. So, in the anthill it is customary to allocate barns, a day nursery, a royal bed, a cemetery.
Members of the colony carry out communications among themselves. So, a honey bee makes peculiar movements in the air, reminiscent of a dance, showing the relatives where the nectar is.
Public insects
The world has a huge number of insects, each species has its own way of life. The most interesting are insect colonies, which often resemble human society by their characteristics. Consider an example.
So, ants have a complex organization, each individual gets his own occupation:
- There are insect-builders who are engaged in equipping an ant hill. The “house" itself is rather complicated. A variety of materials are used for it: needles, bark, earth.
- Military representatives of the anthill protect the home from the attacks of other colonies.
- "Breeders" are engaged in breeding aphids and caring for them.
- There are even doctor ants who perform the simplest surgical operations - they gnaw through a damaged limb (as if amputating).
- In the colony there are a lot of miners - ants, who are engaged in the search for products, their transfer to the anthill and placement in it.
Thus, answering the question of what a colony is in biology, we note that this is a very special way of life, inherent, for example, to ants, which resembles the arrangement of human society. At the head of the ant society is a female capable of fertilization.
What other insect representatives are public and live in colonies?
- Bumblebees
- Termites.
- Wasps.
In this case, the most difficult organization of life is with ants. Note that a colony in biology is a specific form of living of social insects, headed by a female (uterus), capable of fertilization. That is why such insects are also called social.
Mushrooms
No less interesting are the colonies of mushrooms, the simplest example of which is mold. This is a mushroom colony, that is, a set of organisms that have grown and are developing in a single environment. If conditions are favorable, molds will spread very quickly. Moreover, a single organism is microscopically small, but the colony can be seen with the naked eye.
So, answering the question of what a colony is in biology, it can also be noted that this is the way of life of microscopic fungi in a favorable nutrient medium.
Mushroom colonies often bring a lot of problems to a person:
- Spoil crops.
- They lead to metal corrosion.
- They cause mold on the walls.
- They rot the wood.
- Spores of such fungi, falling into the human respiratory tract, can cause tuberculosis.
However, they also provide benefits, for example, penicillin, an antibiotic that helps the human body cope with bacteria, was isolated from fungi.
We considered that a colony in biology is a special form of living of insects and fungi, in which mutual benefit is a key factor.