Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 1, 2026

In Vitro Rearing of Solitary Bees: A Tool for Assessing Larval Risk Factors
Published on: July 16, 2018
Yoyo-bang: a risk-aversion investment strategy by a perennial insect society
1Department of ESP-Biology, University of South Florida St. Petersburg, 140 7th Ave. S., St. Petersburg, FL, 33701-5016, USA. cassill@stpt.usf.edu.
Abstract:
In 1978, Oster and Wilson proposed a bang-bang investment strategy for social insects in which colony size at maturity amplifies colony reproduction. In this paper, the investment strategies of the monogyne form of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, were compared to the predictions of the bang-bang model. Demographic census data, collected on fire ant mounds excavated every month during the years 1985 and 1988, revealed that colony reproduction was independent of colony size (~50,000 to ~250,000 workers). Why were mature S. invicta colonies up to five times larger than they needed to be to reproduce an annual batch of sexual offspring? To address this question, Oster and Wilson's bang-bang model was modified to a "yoyo-bang" investment strategy for perennial societies. In the yoyo-bang model, excess workers are a disposable reserve - a buffer - that can oscillate up or down depending on resource availability without adversely affecting annual reproductive cycles. The yoyo-bang model links colony size, colony survival and lifetime reproductive fitness.
More Related Videos
06:18The Collective Trust Game: An Online Group Adaptation of the Trust Game Based on the HoneyComb Paradigm
Published on: October 20, 2022
06:52An Automated Rapid Iterative Negative Geotaxis Assay for Analyzing Adult Climbing Behavior in a Drosophila Model of Neurodegeneration
Published on: September 12, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Relative Risk
Energy Budgets
Life Histories
Actuarial Approach
Consider the example of a high-risk surgical procedure with significant early-stage mortality. A two-year clinical study is conducted,...
Equity Theory
Conservation of Small Populations