Mark-recapture without estimating population sizes: a tool to evaluate termite baits

The mark-recapture technique is currently being used by many termite researchers. Here its two uses are explained and disentangled. Use 1 is mapping the geographical location of the colony and use 2 is estimating the number of termites in the colony. Use 2 is controversial because the accuracy of the estimates has been widely questioned. In this article, it is explained that use 1 is not controversial and that use 1 (not use 2) is the criterion that is currently being used for evaluating the efficacy of termite baits.

Division of labour in a lower termite: the majority of tasks are performed by older workers

Division of labour among workers was investigated in the lower termite, Reticulitermes fukienensisWorkers were separated into three age groups based on size, small workers being the youngest, medium workers intermediate and large workers the oldest. Workers were then compared in behavioural assays for the degree to which they would carry out specific tasks, which included: (1) foraging-related tasks; (2) care of eggs, larvae and the queen; and (3) some other important behaviours including burying corpses, alarm-giving and time spent stationary. All tasks were performed by two or all three of the size-groups of workers. Hence evidence does not support the hypothesis of tasks being discretely allocated among different instars in termites and this having evolved towards the extreme of one caste for every task. The oldest workers (i.e. large workers) carried out the highest frequencies of all tasks investigated. This contrasts with the social Hymenoptera, where younger workers specialize in some tasks (especially brood and queen care). The results suggest a new pattern for social insects for division of labour among workers.Copyright 1997 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour1997The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

Explicit qualifications as a criterion for membership of the Royal Society: a historical review

It is well known that in the early years the Royal Society accepted as Fellows men of social standing, often with only the most superficial knowledge or interest in the natural world. The idea that candidates for election to the Royal Society should have a special claim to scientific knowledge was formalized in a statute of 1730, which introduced the idea of a certificate describing the rank and qualifications of the candidate and signed by at least three members (1). The immediate reason for this statute was the unease that had been felt about the laxity of admission which had resulted in a large proportion of members having no serious title to membership of a supposedly scientific society. Indeed, approximately two-thirds of the members at that time had little knowledge of science or even any interest in it.