Editing Colony (biology) (section)

== Types ==
=== Social colonies ===
[[Image:Apis florea nest.JPG|thumb|right|''[[Apis florea]]'' colony, Thailand. The nest is 20&nbsp;cm in diameter and contains approximately 3600 cells on each side. The curtain of bees covering the comb with the [[queen bee|queen]] is 3–4 bees thick (~10&nbsp;mm).]]
[[Unicellular]] and [[multicellular]] unitary organisms may aggregate to form colonies. For example,
* [[Protist]]s such as [[slime mold]]s are many unicellular organisms that aggregate to form colonies when food resources are hard to come by, as together they are more reactive to chemical cues released by preferred prey.
* [[Eusociality|Eusocial]] insects like [[ant]]s and [[honey bee]]s are multicellular animals that live in colonies with a highly organized social structure. Colonies of some social insects may be deemed [[superorganism]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Canciani |first1=M. |last2=Arnellos |first2=A. |last3=Moreno |first3=A.  |date=2019 |title=Revising the Superorganism: An Organizational Approach to Complex Eusociality |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=10 |page= Article 2653 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02653 |pmid=31849768 |pmc=6901679 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
*  [[Animal]]s, such as humans and [[rodent]]s, form breeding or [[bird colony|nesting colonies]], potentially for more successful mating and to better protect offspring.
** The [[Bracken Cave]] is the summer home to a colony of around 20 million [[Mexican free-tailed bat]]s, making it the largest known concentration of mammals.<ref name=natgeo>{{cite journal | title = Quietly Conserving Nature | last = Grove | first = Noel | journal = [[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] | date = December 1988 | volume = 174 | issue = 6 | page = 822}}</ref>

=== Modular organisms ===
[[File:Marrus orthocanna.jpg|thumb| The pelagic ''[[Marrus orthocanna]]'' is a colonial [[siphonophore]] assembled from two types of [[zooid]]s]]
Modular organisms are those in which a genet (or genetic individual formed from a [[sexual reproduction|sexually-produced]] [[zygote]]) asexually reproduces to form genetically identical clones called [[ramet]]s.<ref name=Winston2010>{{cite journal|doi=10.1093/icb/icq146|title= Life in the Colonies: Learning the Alien Ways of Colonial Organisms|year=2010|last1=Winston|first1=J.|journal=Integrative and Comparative Biology|volume=50|issue=6|pages=919–933|pmid=21714171|doi-access=free}}</ref>

A '''[[clonal colony]]''' is when the ramets of a genet live in close proximity or are physically connected. Ramets may have all of the functions needed to survive on their own or be interdependent on other ramets. For example, some [[sea anemone]]s go through the process of pedal laceration in which a genetically identical individual is asexually produced from tissue broken off from the anemone's pedal disc. In plants, clonal colonies are created through the propagation of genetically identical individuals by [[stolon]]s or [[rhizome]]s.

'''Colonial organisms''' are [[clonal colonies]] composed of many physically connected, interdependent individuals. The subunits of colonial organisms can be unicellular, as in the alga ''[[Volvox]]'' (a [[Coenobium (morphology)|coenobium]]), or multicellular, as in the [[phylum]] [[Bryozoa]]. Colonial organisms may have been the first step toward [[multicellular organisms]].<ref>{{cite book | display-authors=1 | first1=Bruce | last1=Alberts | first2=Dennis | last2=Bray | first3=Julian | last3=Lewis | first4=Martin | last4=Raff | first5=Keith | last5=Roberts | first6=James D. | last6=Watson | title=Molecular Biology of the Cell | edition=3rd | location=New York | publisher=Garland Science | year=1994 | isbn=0-8153-1620-8 | url=https://archive.org/details/molecularbiology00albe | access-date=2014-06-11 | url-access=registration }}</ref> Individuals within a multicellular colonial organism may be called [[ramet]]s, [[Modularity (biology)|modules]], or [[zooid]]s. Structural and functional variation ([[Polymorphism (biology)|polymorphism]]), when present, designates ramet responsibilities such as feeding, reproduction, and defense. To that end, being physically connected allows the colonial organism to distribute nutrients and energy obtained by feeding zooids throughout the colony. The [[hydrozoa]]n [[Portuguese man o' war]] is a classic example of a colonial organism, one of many in the taxonomic class.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Hydrozoa/|title=Hydrozoa|website=Animal Diversity Web|language=en|access-date=2017-05-06}}</ref>

=== Microbial colonies ===
[[File:Candida albicans PHIL 3192 lores.jpg|thumb|[[Clone (cell biology)|Clonal]] micro colonies of the fungus [[Candida albicans]] on an agar plate]] 
A '''microbial colony'''  is defined as a visible cluster of [[microorganism]]s growing on the surface of or within a solid medium, presumably cultured from a single cell.<ref>{{Cite book
  | last1 = Tortora | first1 = Gerard J.
  | first2 = Funke | last2 = Berdell R.
  | first3 =Case | last3 = Christine L.
  | title = [[Microbiology, An Introduction]]
  | location = Berlin
  | publisher = [[Benjamin Cummings]]
  | year= 2009
  | pages = 170–171
  | isbn = 978-0-321-58420-5 }}</ref> Because the colony is [[Clone (cell biology)|clonal]], with all organisms in it descending from a single ancestor (assuming no [[contamination]]), they are genetically identical, except for any [[mutation]]s (which occur at low frequencies). Obtaining such genetically identical organisms (or pure [[Strain (biology)|strains]]) can be useful; this is done by spreading organisms on a culture plate and starting a new stock from a single resulting colony.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sanders |first1=E.R. |date=2012 |title=Aseptic Laboratory Techniques: Plating Methods |url=https://www.jove.com/t/3064/aseptic-laboratory-techniques-plating-methods |journal=Journal of Visualized Experiments |issue=63 |page=e3064 |doi=10.3791/3064 |pmid=22617405 |pmc=4846335 }}</ref>

A '''[[biofilm]]''' is a colony of [[microorganism]]s often comprising several species, with properties and capabilities greater than the aggregate of capabilities of the individual organisms.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nadell |first1=Carey D. |last2=Xavier |first2=Joao B. |last3=Foster |first3=Kevin R. |title=The sociobiology of biofilms |journal=FEMS Microbiology Reviews |date=January 2009 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=206–224 |doi=10.1111/j.1574-6976.2008.00150.x |pmid=19067751 |url=https://academic.oup.com/femsre/article/33/1/206/2683812?login=false}}</ref>