Some types of insects lead a social, or social, lifestyle. This means that they live in large communities, from several tens to hundreds of thousands of individuals. At the same time, insects are involved in collective actions that are aimed at maintaining the life and interests of the entire community.

General features of the social structure of insects

Any social insect is characterized by:

• the presence of polymorphism of individuals;
• coordinated actions of all individuals in the team;
• division of functions between different groups individuals.

Polymorphism- this is the presence in a community of different forms, not only male and female, but also deprived of the ability to reproduce. At the same time, non-reproducing individuals are adapted to work on:

• protection of offspring;
• supplying the family with food;
• cleaning the living space;
• feeding larvae, etc.

Thus, in all insect communities the following forms are distinguished:

• males;
• females;
• working individuals.

Males and females perform only the function of reproduction. They are not able to obtain food themselves and protect their family. This function is performed by working individuals, who make up the bulk of the family and do not reproduce.

Manifold

Most social insects belong to the order Hymenoptera:

• bumblebees;
• ants;
• bees.

Also social insects are representatives of the order termites.

bumblebees

The sociality of bumblebees is the most primitive. Families of some species do not exceed 50 individuals. The queen lays her eggs in an earthen hole and at first takes care of them herself. Then the working individuals appear and the female stops flying out of the nest for food and only lays eggs.

Polymorphism is weakly expressed.

Termites

A termite family can contain up to a million individuals. Many species of termites build their home from cemented clay.

Rice. 1. Termite mound.

Such a structure can only be erected by collective labor.

Termite polymorphism implies the presence three types individuals:

• male and female;
• warriors;
• workers.

All forms differ in appearance. Soldiers are larger than workers and have stronger jaws. In some species, warriors can be of two or three types. They can use different “weapons”, for example, chemical ones.

The male and females secrete special substances, pheromones, that suppress the activity of the reproductive system of other termites. When the king and queen die, soldiers and workers become capable of reproducing.

Wasps

The sociality of wasps is similar to that of bumblebees. The colony has a queen that lays eggs and worker wasps. In some species, several females can lay eggs.

Bees

The bee family includes:

• female queen;
• male drones;
• worker bees.

Rice. 2. Members of the bee family.

Workers, unlike females and males, have organs to protect the family (sting) and collect pollen. Males and females have a larger abdomen.

Different development of bees is due to different food and even different shapes cells where the larvae develop.

Ants

If the above groups of insects contain both social and solitary living species, then all ants live only in communities.

Working ants are divided according to their structure and functions:

• scouts;
• builders;
• foragers;
• warriors, etc.

It is believed that sociality arose as an adaptation for feeding offspring. Working individuals developed with insufficient feeding and switched to caring for larvae.

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1. What behavioral and lifestyle features are typical for the inhabitants of an anthill?
Most of the ants living in the anthill are wingless workers - these are sterile females. Their number sometimes reaches a million. Besides them, the queen lives in the anthill. She also doesn't have wings. She breaks them off after the mating flight. She lays eggs all her life, and all the care for the anthill lies with the working ants. They obtain food, repair and clean the anthill, feed the larvae and the queen, and defend the anthill in case of attack by enemies. Once a year, at the beginning of summer, winged females and males appear in the anthill from pupae and set off on a mating flight. After mating, the males die, and the females shed their wings and establish a new anthill.
Most ants are predators. Some feed on the sweet secretions of aphids. To do this, ants preserve and “graze” these insects that feed on plants, and sometimes build shelters for them. Other types of ants breed mushrooms in underground chambers to feed on them, bringing in crushed plant leaves. There are herbivorous ants. Ants communicate by touching each other's antennae, legs and heads. In addition, they have a “chemical language” - they secrete special substances with which they mark their paths. Ants recognize relatives and enemies by smell.

2. Describe the composition of the bee colony and the functions of each group of bees.
A large family of bees numbers up to 100 thousand individuals that live in a hive. In a hive, most insects are worker bees. These are sterile females in which the modified ovipositor serves as a stinger. They clean the hive, collect nectar, care for the queen and larvae, and protect the hive from enemies. They live only one season (about a year). In a bee family, the main bee is the queen bee, who lays eggs - up to 2000 per day. She lives for about five years. In the spring, in May-June, a new queen and several dozen males, called drones, appear in the bee colony from the pupae: they do not take any part in the work, and their main task is to fertilize the queen. The old female with some of the worker bees leaves the hive - swarming occurs. Beekeepers collect the swarm and place it in a new hive. In the fall, worker bees drive the remaining drones out of the hive and they die.

3. Why are ants and bees classified as social insects? Explain their meaning in nature and in human life.
Most insects lead a solitary lifestyle. Bees and ants organize communities that represent one big family. Within a family there are separate groups that perform different functions.

4. Based on what characteristics are the silkworm classified as domestic animals? What is the value in economic activity does this insect have a person?

This is the only fully domesticated insect that is not found in nature in the wild.
Silk secreted by silkworms is used in light industry to produce fabrics, in medicine (it is used to make threads for stitching wounds) and in aviation.

Bees Class Insects Order Hymenoptera Superfamily Bees Species Honey bee (domestic)

Beekeeping This is beekeeping, the oldest primitive method of beekeeping, a favorite pastime of the ancient Slavs - forest dwellers. The local peasant considers it a sin to catch swarms: “A bee is God’s creature, free, it’s a sin to force it,” he says. Since ancient times, beekeeping has been a significant industry: wax was exported across the Dnieper to Greece. Numerous meadows covered with heather serve as feeding grounds for bees. Heather blooms from August 1 to September 15. At this time, millions of bees make a hum, circling over the heather and collecting nectar.

Anthill Covering of needles and twigs. Protects the home from the vicissitudes of the weather, repaired and updated by working ants. 2. "Solarium" - a chamber heated by the rays of the sun. In the spring, the inhabitants come here to warm themselves. 3. One of the entrances. Guarded by soldiers. Serves ventilation duct. 4. "Cemetery". Worker ants carry dead ants and garbage here. 5. Wintering chamber. Insects gather here to survive the cold in a state of semi-hibernation. 6. "Bread barn". This is where ants store grains. 7. The royal chamber, where the queen lives, laying up to one and a half thousand eggs per day. She is looked after by worker ants. 8. Chambers with eggs, larvae and pupae. 9. "Cowshed" where ants keep aphids. 10. “Meat pantry”, where foragers bring caterpillars and other prey.

The importance of ants in nature and human life 1) Participate in the soil-forming process (loosening, enriching with oxygen, fertilizing, mixing); 2) Regulate the number of insects - forest pests (destroy larvae); 3) Ants are the only pollinator of cocoa. And without them, we would never be able to taste chocolate; 4) Formic acid is an effective remedy against mites that destroy bees. These mites gnaw through the chitinous cover and suck out the hemolymph.

Caste system of bees Queen Workers Guards (20 -21 days) Builders (14 -20 days) Queen feeders (6 -14 days) Cleaners (1 -6 days) Drones

Ant caste system. Wingless workers “division of labor”: - hunters - nannies - builders - farmers - guards - “cattle breeders” - carrion collectors - seed collectors Winged females, males

Ants are the largest family of insects in terms of number of individuals. And in terms of the number of species, few families can compete with it. Now there are approximately 8,000 species of ants, but given that every year more and more new species and genera are described and the fact that ants in many areas globe almost unstudied, this number will be significantly increased. All ants have characteristic feature, by which they can be distinguished from any other Hymenoptera: between the thorax and abdomen they have a thin stalk of one or two segments, whereas in all other Hymenoptera the abdomen is directly attached to the thorax.

If in bees and wasps within the same family we can observe all stages of the transition from a solitary lifestyle to a social one, then all ants, without exception, are social insects. In laboratory conditions, individual working individuals can live up to 3-4 years. There is a known case when an ant lived for seven years. Females live much longer - up to 20 years.

Scientists observe the life of ants in special glass anthills. Imagine their surprise when it turned out that not all ants are as hardworking as is commonly believed! Observations have shown that 80% of ants are social useful work clean the home, collect food; but the rest are kicking ass. The situation did not change even after scientists removed some of the “working” ants. The remaining hard workers began to work with renewed vigor, while the slackers remained out of work. A possible explanation for such strange behavior of the latter, according to researchers, could be either their advanced age or pathological laziness.

The importance of bees in human life Honey. Contains about 60 various substances, mainly glucose and fructose and: Enzymes that accelerate metabolism in the body; Minerals: Ca, Na, Mg, P, Fe, S, I, Cl, Rd; Microelements: Mn, Si, Al, B, Cr, Cu, Li, Ni, Pb, etc. Organic acids; Vitamins; Phytoncides with antimicrobial, antiputrefactive, antifungal effects. Propolis, or bee glue. Contains essential oils, wax, pollen. Medicinal properties: Painkiller (5.2 times stronger than novocaine); Antipruritic; Antimicrobial; Tones the body, improves immunity; Strengthens tooth enamel; Anesthetizes and softens calluses.

The importance of bees in human life Royal jelly. Contains mineral salts, sex hormones, microelements, vitamins, etc. Therapeutic effect: Increases the content of red blood cells and hemoglobin in the blood; Increases appetite and increases weight; Stimulates hair growth; Improves memory and vision; Increases immunity. Beeswax. Rich in vitamin A, necessary for the development of the epithelium of the skin, bronchial mucosa, throat, nose, stomach and intestines, and for visual acuity. It has antimicrobial, nourishing and regenerating effects. Bee venom. Therapeutic effect: Has a pronounced anti-inflammatory, analgesic effect; Increases the body's overall resistance and immunity; Antimicrobial; Dilates blood vessels; Reduces blood pressure; Reduces blood viscosity and clotting; Reduces cholesterol in the blood.

Bees and ants live in teams, They have the work of arguing. (Proverb) Questions for the lesson: 1. Why are bees and ants called social insects? 2. Why does a person single out these particular ones from the many insects? 3. What will happen in nature if they disappear?

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Lesson objectives:

Educational:

• study the behavioral characteristics of social insects;
• study the diversity of social insects;
• study the role of social insects in nature and human life.

Educational:

• activate and develop the mental activity of students through problem-based learning;
• develop students' creative skills;
• develop the ability to highlight the main points from the teacher’s story, textbook material and additional materials.

Educators:

• education of active creative personality a student who can see, pose and solve non-standard educational problems;
• fostering a sustainable interest in the subject of biology;
• fostering a caring attitude towards social insects by identifying their role in nature and human life.

Knowledge that students should master at the end of the lesson:

• Social insects include termites, bumblebees, wasps, bees, ants;
• the ant family consists of a wingless female queen, worker ants, and larvae; males participate only in fertilizing females, after which they die. Within the family there is a distribution of responsibilities;
• ants regulate the number of forest pests;
• a bee colony consists of a queen, drones, worker bees and larvae; drones take part in the fertilization of females, after which they die.
• There is a distribution of responsibilities within the bee colony;
• bees have complex instinctive behavior, which is manifested in the complex actions performed by bees in the process of work, in their careful care of their offspring, in the appropriateness of the division of labor between family members, in their amazing construction art;
• bees and their metabolic products are of great practical importance in nature and human life.

During the classes

I. Organizing time(5 minutes)

The teacher welcomes students and notes those who are absent in the journal.

II. Updating knowledge on a previously studied topic: “Types of development of insects.” (10 minutes)

Frontal survey:

How do insects develop with complete metamorphosis?

How does development with incomplete transformation differ from development with complete transformation?

Insects of what type of development have a greater advantage and why?

III. Learning new material

Learning new material begins with the topic of the lesson. In a traditional lesson, the teacher usually writes the topic of the lesson on the board at the beginning of the lesson, i.e. gives in finished form.

The purpose of a problem lesson when setting a topic is creative activity students.

From the very beginning of learning new material, the student must think, analyze, and reason.

We will try to make sure that the student, answering the questions, formulates the topic of the lesson himself.

To do this, we will initially divide the topic of the lesson into two subtopics:

1. Bees and ants are social insects.
2. Beneficial insects.

These subtopics are not communicated to students in a ready-made form; we formulated them for ourselves in order to clearly think through the questions that lead students to these subtopics in the future.

We develop a dialogue that encourages students to understand the topic of the lesson.

Dialogue leading to the topic, creating a problematic situation:

Task 1 (5 minutes)

Students are offered a list of words that characterize an insect in a certain way. In this case, these are bees and ants.

Teacher: Before you are two rows of words, each of them characterizes a specific insect. I suggest you break up into pairs and think: What kind of insects are these? What do you know about these insects?

FOREST, TREE, HOUSING, FAMILY, NECTAR, HONEY.

FOREST, STUM, HILL, FAMILY, APHID.

After students have arrived at the correct answer, they are asked to complete the following task:

Task 2 (10 minutes)

To create a problematic situation, I propose to compare the hierarchy of social insects with the hierarchy that exists in our school.

To do this, students are offered three diagrams on the board:

Students are asked to look at these diagrams and answer the question: What do the presented diagrams have in common?

Teacher: Before you are presented diagrams (see Appendix) that depict the hierarchy in bee and ant families and the hierarchy of our school. What do these three schemes have in common?

Students: Both insects and people have a division of responsibilities.

Teacher: Right. Let's think about what society as a whole is?

Students: This is bringing people together.

Teacher: What unites them?

Students: Any activity.

Teacher: Right. Society is a group of people united by collective activity. Do you think ants and bees have joint work? If yes, why do you think so?

Students: Because they have a division of responsibilities, they work together and form a family.

Students: Can.

Teacher: Right. Let’s write down the first topic of today’s lesson: “Bees and ants are social insects.”

Teacher: Guys, how many of you know what an anthill is and what a beehive is?

Students: An anthill is the home of ants, and a hive is the home of bees.

Teacher: Do you think all ants form a family, or are there ants that live alone?

Students: No, all ants form a family.

Teacher: Why can't ants live alone?

Students: They will die because, for example, the queen cannot simultaneously lay eggs and guard the anthill.

Teacher: Now think and answer my question: Do you think that if bees are also social insects, then the distribution of responsibilities will be the same or different?

Students: The distribution of responsibilities will be similar.

Task 3 (10 minutes)

Students are asked to work with the text of the textbook and create a table that will reflect in more detail the composition of the bee and ant families, as well as the functions that they perform in the family.

Previously, the diagrams presented on the board must be removed in order to organize the search activity of the students, as well as to use their memory, to see how well they remember what they previously saw on the board.

Teacher: guys, open the textbook on page 135 (Table 5). I suggest you come up with and fill out a table in which you must determine the composition of the bee and ant families, as well as indicate the role they perform in the family. The diagram you saw on the board at the beginning of the lesson can serve as a hint.

Table. Composition of ant and bee families:

Bee family		Ant family
Family member	Features, role	Family member	Features, role
Uterus	The main bee is larger in size than the other bees and lays eggs.	Uterus (queen)	Wingless female, breaks off wings after mating flight. The role is to lay eggs.
Drone	Male. The role is to fertilize females. After fertilization, the males are expelled from the hive and die.	Male	Winged individuals. The role is to fertilize females. After mating, the males die.
Worker bees	Infertile females, the ovipositor is modified into a stinger. Role: clean the hive, collect nectar, care for the queen and larvae, protect the hive from enemies.	Worker ant	Infertile females that do not have wings. The role is to clean the anthill, collect food, care for the queen and larvae, and protect the anthill from enemies.

While completing the task, the teacher makes sure that the whole class is involved in the work, approaches the students, monitors the progress of the task, and makes corrections if necessary.

After completing the task, the teacher asks questions to the class:

• Did everyone complete the task?
• What difficulties arose when completing the task, what was not clear?

If questions arise, the teacher makes appropriate explanations and additions. If all students completed the task and no questions arose, then the teacher proceeds to the next task, and checks the quality of the table at the end of the lesson when consolidating the learned material.

Task 4 (15 minutes)

When completing this task, students’ search activities are organized. Students are divided into three groups (the division can be done according to the rows in the classroom). The teacher asks each row of students one problematic issue. After that, students are given time to think and write down the answer to the question in their notebooks. The teacher asks the students how they can answer this question and listens to all opinions. Next, he distributes the text on cards, with the help of which the students must find the answer to the question posed. Students write down their answers in notebooks, after which work is organized to exchange information, and finally, results are summed up and conclusions are formulated.

Card No. 1

Problematic question: What advantages does a social lifestyle give to ants and bees?

Families of social insects usually build large dwellings, the creation of which is beyond the power of single species. The presence of such a dwelling, sometimes also very durable (termite mounds), increases the protection of both the insects themselves and, what is much more important, their offspring and food supplies that can be stored in such a dwelling. Through joint activity, social insects (bees, ants) can maintain an optimal microclimate (temperature, humidity) in their homes, which is inaccessible to solitary species.

The possibility of joint action provides important advantages. Together you can defend yourself from larger enemies, take possession of larger prey that is inaccessible to a single insect of the same size (ants).

Card No. 2

Problematic question: Why does an ant need an anthill?

An anthill is a nest, the home of an ant family. Ants use their domed nests to trap sunlight and store heat.

Anthills consist of needles, small twigs, pieces of bark and plant debris. At first glance, it seems that all this garbage is scattered randomly. However, it turns out that even in the most heavy rain the anthill practically does not get wet.

The height of anthills is usually 0.5-0.7 m, but sometimes they reach a height of 1.5 m. The starting point for building a nest is often an old stump. The population of medium-sized nests is about 500,000 individuals, and in large ones there are up to a million ants. Each family owns a separate, protected territory, into which other ants are not allowed. On it, ants build “scent” roads along which food products and building materials are transported.

Ants are very strong and successfully deliver not only small insects to the anthill, but also those that are larger in mass. If the prey is very large, then they transport it collectively. When observing them, it may seem that they are not helping, but only hindering each other - everyone is pulling in their own direction. However, since all ants have the same general desire, the prey eventually ends up in the anthill.

Thus, a joint lifestyle allows ants to build large dwellings, which increase the security of both the insects themselves and their offspring and food supplies. Through joint activity, ants (social insects) can maintain an optimal microclimate (temperature, humidity) in their homes, which is inaccessible to single species.

Card No. 3

Problem question: How do ants communicate?

Text (http://edu.zelenogorsk.ru/projs/eko/bespozv/nas35.html):

When communicating with each other, ants use a variety of signals, mainly by touching each other with their antennae, legs, and heads. Chemical signals are also used. Everyone knows that disturbed ants take a defensive pose: they rise high on their hind legs and point the end of their abdomen forward. And immediately there is a pungent smell. This ant sprayed out a liquid consisting of formic acid and an alarm substance - undecane. It should be noted that most ants, although they belong to the stinging hymenoptera, do not have a sting. However, they still have poisonous glands at the end of their abdomen. How do they use them? The ant has powerful jaws, with which it bites the enemy when attacking or defending. At the same time, it bends its abdomen so that its end is near the head, and sprays poison into the wound inflicted by its jaws. If there are other ants nearby, then the smell of the sprayed liquid is perceived by them as an alarm signal, and they immediately join the first ant. And on the roads along which the ants run from the anthill and to the anthill, they secrete other, so-called trace substances that allow them not to go astray. All ants from the same nest have a common smell, which allows them to recognize each other and prevent ants from other people's nests from entering their nest.

Teacher: Do you think the behavior of social insects is complex?

Students: Yes.

Teacher: Does this mean that these insects have intelligence?

Students: probably means.

Teacher: Do any of you know what instinct is?

Students express their opinions. Thus, a problem arises and various hypotheses are put forward. Students are asked to solve this problem using the textbook.

Teacher: to solve this problem, let's turn to the textbook and write down what instinct is, and whether insects really have intelligence.

Students are asked to turn to page 137, find and write down information about what instinct is.

An example entry in a notebook:

Instinct is a set of innate aspects of behavior, fixed hereditarily and characteristic of a certain species of animal.

The behavior of bees, ants and some other animals is so complex and surprising that it leads people to believe that it is intelligent. However, these actions of animals are instinctive and unconscious.

Teacher: Guys, do you think insects are useful or harmful?

Students: Helpful.

Teacher: We write down the second subtopic of our lesson in our notebooks: “Beneficial insects.” (10 minutes)

Teacher: Which ones beneficial insects You know?

Students: ants, bees, beetles, silkworms.

Teacher: What benefits do these insects bring?

Students: honey, silk, eat harmful insects...

Teacher: Do any of you know who the silkworm is and what it is famous for?

Students express their versions, after which they are asked to turn to the text of the textbook and answer the following questions:

Where is the silkworm found in nature? (a question for attentiveness, students must answer that the silkworm is a completely domesticated animal and does not occur in nature).

• What does an adult silkworm insect look like and why was this insect given such a name?
• How does a person obtain silk using the silkworm?

IV. Reflection.(5 minutes)

Frontal survey of students:

1. What insects are social?
2. Name the composition and characteristics of the bee colony.
3. Name the composition and characteristics of the ant family.
4. Why is the behavior of social insects complex but not intelligent?
5. What insects are considered beneficial, what benefits do they bring?
6. What insects have humans domesticated? What benefits do they bring?

V. Homework.

Paragraph 28, questions after the paragraph, notes in the notebook;

Answer the following questions in writing:

The adult silkworm moth does not feed. Her mouth organs are not developed. How does this insect live?

How do bees get honey?

Educational literature

Biology: 7th grade: textbook for students of general education institutions: in 2 hours. Part 1 / V.M. Konstantinov, V.G. Babenko, V.S. Kuchmenko: ed. prof. I.N. Ponomareva, - 3rd ed. reworked – M.: Ventana-Graf. 2009. – 160 p.: ill.