Antony S. Aleksiev
Individual and collective choice: Parallel prospecting and mining in ants
Aleksiev, Antony S.; Longdon, Ben; Christmas, Matthew J.; Sendova-Franks, Ana B.; Franks, Nigel R.
Authors
Ben Longdon
Matthew J. Christmas
Ana B. Sendova-Franks
Nigel R. Franks
Abstract
Decision making is of crucial importance in the lives of both animals and humans. How decisions of group members scale up to group decisions is of great interest. Accordingly, we gave homeless ant colonies (n=67) in three experiments a choice between two nest sites (with small, big or mixed sand grains), each of which had to be excavated to be habitable. Among the colonies that chose only one of the new nest sites, all preferred the ones that could be excavated most easily and quickly. There are interesting parallels between the collective choice of mining sites and the ability of certain ants to select short cuts; both involve positive feedback. However, in this paper, we discuss a mechanism whereby collective co-ordination in the production of social infrastructure can occur in the absence of signalling. © 2007 Springer-Verlag.
Citation
Aleksiev, A. S., Longdon, B., Christmas, M. J., Sendova-Franks, A. B., & Franks, N. R. (2008). Individual and collective choice: Parallel prospecting and mining in ants. Naturwissenschaften, 95(4), 301-305. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0329-9
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Apr 1, 2008 |
Journal | Naturwissenschaften |
Print ISSN | 0028-1042 |
Publisher | Springer Verlag |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 95 |
Issue | 4 |
Pages | 301-305 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0329-9 |
Keywords | ant, nest excavation, aggregation, self-organisation, temnothorax albipennis |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1016531 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0329-9 |
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