Longevity and detection of persistent foraging trails in Pharaoh's ants, Monomorium pharaonis (L.)

Jackson, Duncan E.; Martin, Stephen J.; Holcombe, Mike; Ratnieks, Francis L. W.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.04.018

Cited by 70 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Thus, chemotaxis provides a mechanism of interindividual communication. Modeling such communication strategies is key to understanding the collective behavior of microorganisms (6)(7)(8) as well as flocks of animals like fire ants (9,10).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemotaxis and autochemotaxis of self-propelling droplet swimmers

Jin

Krüger

Maaß

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

255

257

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Chemotaxis and autochemotaxis play an important role in many essential biological processes. We present a self-propelling artificial swimmer system that exhibits chemotaxis as well as negative autochemotaxis. Oil droplets in an aqueous surfactant solution are driven by interfacial Marangoni flows induced by micellar solubilization of the oil phase. We demonstrate that chemotaxis along micellar surfactant gradients can guide these swimmers through a microfluidic maze. Similarly, a depletion of empty micelles in the wake of a droplet swimmer causes negative autochemotaxis and thereby trail avoidance. We studied autochemotaxis quantitatively in a microfluidic device of bifurcating channels: Branch choices of consecutive swimmers are anticorrelated, an effect decaying over time due to trail dispersion. We modeled this process by a simple one-dimensional diffusion process and stochastic Langevin dynamics. Our results are consistent with a linear surfactant gradient force and diffusion constants appropriate for micellar diffusion and provide a measure of autochemotactic feedback strength vs. stochastic forces. This assay is readily adaptable for quantitative studies of both artificial and biological autochemotactic systems.artificial swimmers | chemotaxis | autochemotaxis | microfluidics L ocomotion of living bacteria or cells can be random or oriented. Oriented motion comprises the various "taxis" strategies by which bacteria or cells react to changes in their environment (1). Among these, chemotaxis is one of the best-studied examples (2, 3): Cells and microorganisms are able to sense certain chemicals (chemoattractants or chemorepellents) and move toward or away from them. This is an essential function in many biological processes, e.g., wound healing, fertilization, pathogenic species invading a host, or colonization dynamics (4, 5). When the chemoattractant or chemorepellent is produced by the microorganisms themselves, the system exhibits positive or negative autochemotaxis. Thus, chemotaxis provides a mechanism of interindividual communication. Modeling such communication strategies is key to understanding the collective behavior of microorganisms (6-8) as well as flocks of animals like fire ants (9, 10).To model the swimming motion of microorganisms, various self-propelling artificial swimmer systems have been developed based on different mechanisms. Generally, there are two classes of swimmers: systems driven by and aligning with external fields (11-14), including chemotactic gradients, and selfpropelled swimmers, which move autonomously in homogeneous environments (15-21). Many autonomous swimmers additionally react to external fields, e.g., phototactic gradients (22).Biological autochemotactic systems exhibit very complex behaviors (23,24), where physical effects are intermingling with effects from various bioprocesses such as cell migration, metabolism, and division. To untangle these effects, there have been some design proposals for artificial systems, such as in ref.25, and simulations on the dynamics o...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemotaxis and autochemotaxis of self-propelling droplet swimmers

Jin

Krüger

Maaß

2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

255

257

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“…Furthermore, the set-up in the experiments by Nouvellet et al (2010) is artificial because they have not taken into account indirect interactions outside the nest. Like many other ant species, Pharaoh's ants rely heavily on indirect interactions via pheromone trails outside the nest and lay these trails during exploration (Jackson et al, 2006). Hence ants could also be using the density of pheromone trails to assess local density.…”

Section: Letter To Editormentioning

confidence: 99%

Comment on P. Nouvellet, J.P. Bacon, D. Waxman, “Testing the level of ant activity associated with quorum sensing: An empirical approach leading to the establishment and test of a null-model”

Richardson

Robinson

Christensen

et al. 2011

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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“…Pruning processes have been implicated in the formation of a number of biological transportation systems including slime mould foraging networks (Nakagaki et al, 2004a,b), the mycelial networks of fungi (Bebber et al, 2007) and mammalian vascular networks (Risau, 1997). While such a system provides a simple, decentralised prescription for constructing trail networks, it does not lend itself well to dynamic environments, as trails, once evaporated, generally do not re-appear (but see Jackson et al, 2006, for an example of pathfinding individuals that apparently find and reactivate old trails). Thus, our fourth aim was to determine whether a pruning process is at play in the development of trail networks in dynamic environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) use adaptable transportation networks to track changes in resource quality

Latty

Holmes

Makinson

et al. 2017

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Transportation networks play a crucial role in human and animal societies. For a transportation network to be efficient, it must have adequate capacity to meet traffic demand. Network design becomes increasingly difficult in situations where traffic demand can change unexpectedly. In humans, network design is often constrained by path dependency because it is difficult to move a road once it is built. A similar issue theoretically faces pheromone-trail-laying social insects; once a trail has been laid, positive feedback makes rerouting difficult because new trails cannot compete with continually reinforced pre-existing trails. In the present study, we examined the response of Argentine ant colonies and their trail networks to variable environments where resources differ in quality and change unexpectedly. We found that Argentine ant colonies effectively tracked changes in food quality such that colonies allocated the highest proportion of foragers to the most rewarding feeder. Ant colonies maximised access to high concentration feeders by building additional trails and routes connecting the nest to the feeder. Trail networks appeared to form via a pruning process in which lower traffic trails were gradually removed from the network. At the same time, we observed several instances where new trails appear to have been built to accommodate a surge in demand. The combination of trail building when traffic demand is high and trail pruning when traffic demand is low results in a demand-driven network formation system that allows ants to monopolise multiple dynamic resources.

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Longevity and detection of persistent foraging trails in Pharaoh's ants, Monomorium pharaonis (L.)

Cited by 70 publications

References 26 publications

Chemotaxis and autochemotaxis of self-propelling droplet swimmers

Chemotaxis and autochemotaxis of self-propelling droplet swimmers

Comment on P. Nouvellet, J.P. Bacon, D. Waxman, “Testing the level of ant activity associated with quorum sensing: An empirical approach leading to the establishment and test of a null-model”

Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) use adaptable transportation networks to track changes in resource quality

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