The broad limits of mature colony size in social insect species are likely to be set by ecological factors. However, any change in colony size has a number of important social consequences. The most fundamental is a change in the expected reproductive potential of workers. If colony size rises, workers experience a fall in their chances of becoming replacement reproductives and, it is shown, increasing selection for mutual inhibition of one another's reproduction (worker policing). As workers’ reproductive potential falls, the degree of dimorphism between reproductive and worker castes (morphological skew) can rise. This helps explain why small societies have low morphological skew and tend to be simple in organization, whereas large societies have high morphological skew and tend to be complex. The social consequences of change in colony size may also alter colony size itself in a process of positive feedback. For these reasons, small societies should be characterized by intense, direct conflict over reproduction and caste determination. By contrast, conflict in large societies should predominantly be over brood composition, and members of these societies should be relatively compliant to manipulation of their caste. Colony size therefore deserves fuller recognition as a key determinant, along with kin structure, of social complexity, the reproductive potential of helpers, the degree of caste differentiation, and the nature of within‐group conflict.

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Aeolian processes are probably the dominant ongoing surface process on Mars; Large Dark Dunes (LDDs), particularly common aeolian landforms, were first recognized in the early 1970s. Recent, higher resolution images have revealed another, morphologically distinct, large population of smaller, ripple-like aeolian bedforms that have been termed "Transverse Aeolian Ridges" (TARs) as it is unknown whether they formed as large ripples or small dunes. We have begun a new study of TARs that examines their distribution, orientation, and morphology using N 10,000 high-resolution Mars Orbiter Camera (1.5 to 8 m/pixel resolution) images in a 45°longitude wide, pole-to-pole survey. The aim of this study is to assess whether TARs are active, to identify possible sediment sources and pathways, and to determine the volumes of sediment that they comprise. We present results from the first half of this study, in which we examine the northern hemisphere, and describe a new three-part classification scheme used to aid the survey. Our results show that TARs are abundant but not ubiquitous: preferentially forming proximal to friable, layered terrains such as those found in Terra Meridiani -the location of the ongoing Mars Exploration Rover "Opportunity" mission. TAR distribution in the northern hemisphere shows a strong latitudinal dependence with very few TARs being found north of ∼ 30°N. We also find that in most cases TARs are less mobile than LDDs, a conclusion possibly explained by Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity observations that show TARlike ripples to have a core of fine material armored by a monolayer of granule-sized particles. This could disallow significant bedform movement under the current wind regime. That TARs are essentially inactive is confirmed by superposition relations with slope streaks and LDDs and by observations of superposed impact craters. We suggest that observations made by the Opportunity Rover in Terra Meridiani indicate that the small aeolian bedforms common here are ripples and not small dunes. Farther south, these bedforms transition into larger features indistinguishable from TARs, suggesting that TARs (in the Meridiani area at least) are ripples and not dunes.

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Despite radically different environmental conditions, terrestrial and martian dunes bear a strong resemblance, indicating that the basic processes of saltation and grainfall (sand avalanching down the dune slipface) operate on both worlds. Here, we show that martian dunes are subject to an additional modification process not found on Earth: springtime sublimation of Mars' CO(2) seasonal polar caps. Numerous dunes in Mars' north polar region have experienced morphological changes within a Mars year, detected in images acquired by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Dunes show new alcoves, gullies, and dune apron extension. This is followed by remobilization of the fresh deposits by the wind, forming ripples and erasing gullies. The widespread nature of these rapid changes, and the pristine appearance of most dunes in the area, implicates active sand transport in the vast polar erg in Mars' current climate.