Animal transportation networks

Perna, Andréa; Latty, Tanya

doi:10.1098/rsif.2014.0334

Cited by 36 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 124 publications

(165 reference statements)

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“…Abrahms et al, 2015). In terms of the landscape, for instance, it may be difficult to justify deviations from the energetically optimum route if the energy loss will be great, for instance if the energy landscape is composed of clear valleys between mountains, such as may be created by animal transport networks (Newmark and Rickart, 2012;Perna and Latty, 2014) exemplified by packed paths through deep snow (Crête and Lariviere, 2003). Thus, the movement behaviours of animals through certain landscapes may be highly predictable regardless of an animal's present objectives if certain routes and speeds are considerably more economic than alternatives.…”

Section: Energetics Driving Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This would be associated with a host of behaviours that optimise the energy economy of movement. Such behaviours include the geographical paths taken, which may incorporate the use of transportation networks (Perna and Latty, 2014), the speeds of movement, and perhaps also whether movement is undertaken in a group. In contrast, less emphasis on energy economy might be exhibited where energy availability is high or perhaps when an animal is emaciated but is aware of the likely short-lived presence of a nearby food source.…”

Section: Energetics Driving Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Terrestrial movement energetics: current knowledge and its application to the optimising animal

Halsey

2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The energetic cost of locomotion can be a substantial proportion of an animal's daily energy budget and thus key to its ecology. Studies on myriad species have added to our knowledge about the general cost of animal movement, including the effects of variations in the environment such as terrain angle. However, further such studies might provide diminishing returns on the development of a deeper understanding of how animals trade-off the cost of movement with other energy costs, and other ecological currencies such as time. Here, I propose the 'individual energy landscape' as an approach to conceptualising the choices facing the optimising animal. In this Commentary, first I outline previous broad findings about animal walking and running locomotion, focusing in particular on the use of net cost of transport as a metric of comparison between species, and then considering the effects of environmental perturbations and other extrinsic factors on movement costs. I then introduce and explore the idea that these factors combine with the behaviour of the animal in seeking short-term optimality to create that animal's individual energy landscape -the result of the geographical landscape and environmental factors combined with the animal's selected tradeoffs. Considering an animal's locomotion energy expenditure within this context enables hard-won empirical data on transport costs to be applied to questions about how an animal can and does move through its environment to maximise its fitness, and the relative importance, or otherwise, of locomotion energy economy.

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Section: Energetics Driving Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Energetics Driving Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Terrestrial movement energetics: current knowledge and its application to the optimising animal

Halsey

2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…In transportation networks, the capacity of a network to maintain connectivity as an increasing fraction of trails/tracks/ roads are removed is characteristic of a resilient network [17]. The more connected a network is, the greater the resistance to damage; this is known as 'robustness'.…”

Section: Topological Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, MSTs and SMTs are also minimally robust (figure 3). Thus, transportation networks face a key tradeoff between robustness and cost; this is known as the 'transportation problem' the formulation of which is attributed to eighteenth century mathematician Gaspard Monge [17].…”

Section: Topological Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience in social insect infrastructure systems

Middleton

Latty

2016

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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Both human and insect societies depend on complex and highly coordinated infrastructure systems, such as communication networks, supply chains and transportation networks. Like human-designed infrastructure systems, those of social insects are regularly subject to disruptions such as natural disasters, blockages or breaks in the transportation network, fluctuations in supply and/ or demand, outbreaks of disease and loss of individuals. Unlike humandesigned systems, there is no deliberate planning or centralized control system; rather, individual insects make simple decisions based on local information. How do these highly decentralized, leaderless systems deal with disruption? What factors make a social insect system resilient, and which factors lead to its collapse? In this review, we bring together literature on resilience in three key social insect infrastructure systems: transportation networks, supply chains and communication networks. We describe how systems differentially invest in three pathways to resilience: resistance, redirection or reconstruction. We suggest that investment in particular resistance pathways is related to the severity and frequency of disturbance. In the final section, we lay out a prospectus for future research. Human infrastructure networks are rapidly becoming decentralized and interconnected; indeed, more like social insect infrastructures. Human infrastructure management might therefore learn from social insect researchers, who can in turn make use of the mature analytical and simulation tools developed for the study of human infrastructure resilience.

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“…In the case of social insects, the collective activities of a colony often result in the formation of complex physical structures such as networks of trails (Perna and Latty, 2014;Czaczkes et al, 2015), shelters (Anderson and McShea, 2001) and, most notably, nests (Hansell, 2005;Grassé, 1984). These structures are not simply the by-product of animal interactions, because they also mediate the flow of information that is required for the building of the nest itself, in a form of indirect communication known as stigmergy (Grassé, 1959;see below).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When social behaviour is moulded in clay: on growth and form of social insect nests

Perna

Théraulaz

2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The nests built by social insects are among the most complex structures produced by animal groups. They reveal the social behaviour of a colony and as such they potentially allow comparative studies. However, for a long time, research on nest architecture was hindered by the lack of technical tools allowing the visualisation of their complex 3D structures and the quantification of their properties. Several techniques, developed over the years, now make it possible to study the organisation of these nests and how they are built. Here, we review present knowledge of the mechanisms of nest construction, and how nest structure affects the behaviour of individual insects and the organisation of activities within a colony.

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Animal transportation networks

Cited by 36 publications

References 124 publications

Terrestrial movement energetics: current knowledge and its application to the optimising animal

Terrestrial movement energetics: current knowledge and its application to the optimising animal

Resilience in social insect infrastructure systems

When social behaviour is moulded in clay: on growth and form of social insect nests

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