Principles of organization of polistinae (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) population.

The paper describes some invariant relations of the Polistinae population structure, including resistance to abiotic and biotic factors that occurs against the background of the hierarchy of biological systems and increasing autonomy of their functioning. A decrease in the dependence on the hostile environment is shown to be due to the activity of foundresses and workers adjusting to external rhythms, developing specialized responses to predators and parasites (predictable external noise of biotic nature), and creating new information. The population organization of Polistinae wasps is considered in the framework of Anokhin's theory of functional systems and systemogenesis. There are specific processes in the population that unite individual colonies and their reproduction; they are accompanied by the formation of an advanced feedback and functional systems. Systemic processes can be simultaneously regarded as 'adaptation' (reflecting the organization of environmental elements) and as 'adaptiveness' (reflecting the organization of the activity of intra-colony processes and the organization of reproduction). The organization of the colony activity and reproduction in functional systems reflects the future survival rather than the preceding phenomena and events. The behavior of individuals in a colony is determined not only by the effects of abiotic and biotic factors (via transformation of cues into behavioral programs), but also by previous adaptations (stored in the 'memory' as images of still absent events). General progress, limited or partial progress, and narrow specialization in the organization of polistine colonies and populations are considered using the examples of morphofunctional, environmental, energy and information criteria. The emphasis on invariant relations makes it possible to more fully describe biological systems in terms of such general categories as isomorphism, homeostasis or self-organization, and also enables us to use more effectively the theory of general functional systems in studying social insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]