Why is the organization of an ant colony (made-up from thousands of ants) consid

Question

Why is the organization of an ant colony (made-up from thousands of ants) considered to be an example of an "emergent property" while the luster of a diamond (made-up from thousands of carbon atoms) or the flexing of a muscle (made-up of thousands of muscle fibers) are not. There are three Domains of life on this planet: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. Match the following descriptions with the correct Domain: a) A prokaryotic decomposer is most likely to be in the Domain:___. b) A prokaryote that thrives in extreme environments most likely belongs to the Domain:___ c) A multicellular organism must belong to the Domain:___ d) Organisms made of cells that have a nucleus and other membranous organelles.___.

Explanation / Answer

Please find the answers below:

Answer 5: Emergence is defined as appearance of complex behaviour in a group of individuals/entities by the means of repeated single interaction between them. It has been very well observed that a colony of ants comprises of thousands of ants which communicate with each other and thus result in formation of a very well structured complex community. This community is not a representative of simple repetitions of single types of units (ants in this case) but represents the mutual interactions of these entities (ants) with each other and their environment which help them survive. On the other hand, the luster of a diamond is a simple complex of multiple repetitive units which have no outcomes of complex behaviours and outcomes. This is why it is considered as a simple polymer/crystal and not an emergent property.

Answer 6: Please find the answers below and reasons in parentheses:

Part a: Bacteria (Bacteria are the major class of decomposers which grow easily under various conditions of oxygen, humidity and temperature and thus create the rottening appearance of the substrates)

Part b: Archae (The archae bacteria represent some perfect examples of microbes residing at extreme climates of hot showers, sulphur concentrations, gaseous concentrations, acids etc)

Part c: Eukaya (although unicellular eukaryotes do occur, but they are extremely rare in nature. All eukaryotes reside in colony and thus an eukaryote is multicellular in nature)

Part d:Eukarya (the main distinguishing feature of eukaryotes is presence of membrane bound organelles such as nucleus, mitochondria, golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum etc.)

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