Abstract: Zhanna Reznikova Prof. Dr. Zhanna Reznikova, Institute for Animal Systematics and Ecology, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Frunze 11 ul., 630091, Novosibirsk, Russia. E-mail: zhanna@reznikova.net Myrmecol. News 10: 119 Interspecific hierarchy in ant communities was originally described by Kaczmarek (1953) who coined the terms "dominants", "subdominants" and "influents". However, his concept was not supported experimentally, but rather was based on records achieved by catching with an entomological net. This idea was developed by Pisarski (1973) and GALLÉ (1975, 1978). The first experimental demonstration of interspecific hierarchy was made by Reznikova (1980), based on the method of baiting observations. The role of behavioural plasticity in sophisticated inter-relations between dominating Formica and subdominating Serviformica species was firstly studied experimentally by Stebaev & Reznikova (1972) and Reznikova (1975, 1982) by manipulations with limited food resources. The hierarchical structure of ant communities was later investigated by many myrmecologists (VEPSÄLÄINEN & Pisarski 1982, Rosengren 1986,…