Modulation of trail laying in the antLasius niger (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and its role in the collective selection of a food source

Beckers, R; Deneubourg, Jean‐Louis; Goss, Simon

doi:10.1007/bf01201674

Cited by 225 publications

(203 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The hypotheses about individual strategies include quorum response strategies [11,43,44], state-dependent strategies [33,82,83] [83]). If the interdependence factor between birds J is zero, all birds land independently of each other at their optimal times (solid line).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Models in animal collective decision-making: information uncertainty and conflicting preferences

Conradt

2011

Interface Focus.

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Collective decision-making plays a central part in the lives of many social animals. Two important factors that influence collective decision-making are information uncertainty and conflicting preferences. Here, I bring together, and briefly review, basic models relating to animal collective decision-making in situations with information uncertainty and in situations with conflicting preferences between group members. The intention is to give an overview about the different types of modelling approaches that have been employed and the questions that they address and raise. Despite the use of a wide range of different modelling techniques, results show a coherent picture, as follows. Relatively simple cognitive mechanisms can lead to effective information pooling. Groups often face a trade-off between decision accuracy and speed, but appropriate fine-tuning of behavioural parameters could achieve high accuracy while maintaining reasonable speed. The right balance of interdependence and independence between animals is crucial for maintaining group cohesion and achieving high decision accuracy. In conflict situations, a high degree of decision-sharing between individuals is predicted, as well as transient leadership and leadership according to needs and physiological status. Animals often face crucial trade-offs between maintaining group cohesion and influencing the decision outcome in their own favour. Despite the great progress that has been made, there remains one big gap in our knowledge: how do animals make collective decisions in situations when information uncertainty and conflict of interest operate simultaneously?

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Models in animal collective decision-making: information uncertainty and conflicting preferences

Conradt

2011

Interface Focus.

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“…The side view allowed pheromone depositions to be clearly detected. Pheromone deposition in L. niger is a highly stereotyped behaviour in which the ant pauses for ca 0.2 s and presses the tip of her abdomen firmly on the substrate [29]. This behaviour is easily observed and counted.…”

Section: Part 1: Effect Of Trail Crowdingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative feedback in ants: crowding results in less trail pheromone deposition

Czaczkes

Grüter

Ratnieks

2013

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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Crowding in human transport networks reduces efficiency. Efficiency can be increased by appropriate control mechanisms, which are often imposed externally. Ant colonies also have distribution networks to feeding sites outside the nest and can experience crowding. However, ants do not have external controllers or leaders. Here, we report a self-organized negative feedback mechanism, based on local information, which downregulates the production of recruitment signals in crowded parts of a network by Lasius niger ants. We controlled crowding by manipulating trail width and the number of ants on a trail, and observed a 5.6-fold reduction in the number of ants depositing trail pheromone from least to most crowded conditions. We also simulated crowding by placing glass beads covered in nest-mate cuticular hydrocarbons on the trail. After 10 bead encounters over 20 cm, forager ants were 45 per cent less likely to deposit pheromone. The mechanism of negative feedback reported here is unusual in that it acts by downregulating the production of a positive feedback signal, rather than by direct inhibition or the production of an inhibitory signal.

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“…Most studies that have investigated the Xexibility of foraging behavior in social insects have dealt with the changes occurring in the availability of food sources, e.g., the removal of a food source by competitors, or the discovery by scout workers of a new and more proWtable food source (Pasteels et al 1987;de Biseau et al 1991;Seeley et al 1991;Beckers et al 1993; review in Detrain et al 1999). Foraging behavior, however, can be potentially aVected by other types of environmental modiWcations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual and collective problem-solving in a foraging context in the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica

et al. 2008

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In this paper we investigate the Xexibility of foraging behavior in the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica, both at the individual and collective levels, following a change in the physical properties of their environment. We studied in laboratory conditions the changes occurring in foraging behavior when a height constraint was placed 1 cm above part of the trail linking the nest to the foraging area. We found that the size and shape of the fragments of foraging material brought back to the nest were signiWcantly modiWed when the constraint was placed on the trail: independent of their size, forager ants cut smaller and rounder fragments in the presence of a height constraint than in its absence. This size adjustment does not require any direct sensory feedback because it occurred when the ants cut fragments in the foraging area; no further cutting was done when they encountered the constraint. This points to the existence of a template that ants store and use as a reference to adjust their reach while cutting. Remarkably, despite the decrease in the foraging material brought to the nest per capita the colony was still able to improve its foraging performance by doubling the number of transporters. This study illustrates the Xexibility of foraging behavior exhibited by an ant colony. It provides a rare example of insects Wnding an intelligent solution to a problem occurring in a foraging context, at both the individual and collective levels.

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Modulation of trail laying in the antLasius niger (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and its role in the collective selection of a food source

Cited by 225 publications

References 11 publications

Models in animal collective decision-making: information uncertainty and conflicting preferences

Models in animal collective decision-making: information uncertainty and conflicting preferences

Negative feedback in ants: crowding results in less trail pheromone deposition

Individual and collective problem-solving in a foraging context in the leaf-cutting ant Atta colombica

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