Self-organized structures in a superorganism: do ants “behave” like molecules?

Detrain, Claire; Deneubourg, Jean‐Louis

doi:10.1016/j.plrev.2006.07.001

Cited by 205 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 132 publications

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“…The foraging behavior of social insects is highly Xexible because it depends both on individual and collective decisions (Camazine et al 2001;Detrain et al 1999;Detrain and Deneubourg 2006). This Xexibility allows a social insect colony to rapidly adjust its foraging strategy to changes occurring in the environment (Seeley 1995;Gordon 1996).…”

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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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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“…Theories assume that individual assessments are made in isolation and then integrated by a centralized process such as vote counting or averaging. Real groups instead rely on decentralized mechanisms in which interactions and positive feedback bring the group to consensus (20,21,22). These interactions may either improve intelligence by integrating multiple assessments or hurt it by amplifying mistakes (23).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ant colonies outperform individuals when a sensory discrimination task is difficult but not when it is easy

Sasaki

Granovskiy

Mann

et al. 2013

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

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“Collective intelligence” and “wisdom of crowds” refer to situations in which groups achieve more accurate perception and better decisions than solitary agents. Whether groups outperform individuals should depend on the kind of task and its difficulty, but the nature of this relationship remains unknown. Here we show that colonies of Temnothorax ants outperform individuals for a difficult perception task but that individuals do better than groups when the task is easy. Subjects were required to choose the better of two nest sites as the quality difference was varied. For small differences, colonies were more likely than isolated ants to choose the better site, but this relationship was reversed for large differences. We explain these results using a mathematical model, which shows that positive feedback between group members effectively integrates information and sharpens the discrimination of fine differences. When the task is easier the same positive feedback can lock the colony into a suboptimal choice. These results suggest the conditions under which crowds do or do not become wise.

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“…[589][590][591] Social behavior in insects should not be considered without an acknowledgement of the complex and multiparametric nature of the evolution of interactions. [592] Still, characterization methods from materials science hold promise for quantifying and modeling the behavior of active and self-healing materials, biological and otherwise. [583,585,592] …”

Section: Insect Swarms As Functional Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature: Functional Materials in Insects

2018

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Over the course of their wildly successful proliferation across the earth, the insects as a taxon have evolved enviable adaptations to their diverse habitats, which include adhesives, locomotor systems, hydrophobic surfaces, and sensors and actuators that transduce mechanical, acoustic, optical, thermal, and chemical signals. Insect‐inspired designs currently appear in a range of contexts, including antireflective coatings, optical displays, and computing algorithms. However, as over one million distinct and highly specialized species of insects have colonized nearly all habitable regions on the planet, they still provide a largely untapped pool of unique problem‐solving strategies. With the intent of providing materials scientists and engineers with a muse for the next generation of bioinspired materials, here, a selection of some of the most spectacular adaptations that insects have evolved is assembled and organized by function. The insects presented display dazzling optical properties as a result of natural photonic crystals, precise hierarchical patterns that span length scales from nanometers to millimeters, and formidable defense mechanisms that deploy an arsenal of chemical weaponry. Successful mimicry of these adaptations may facilitate technological solutions to as wide a range of problems as they solve in the insects that originated them.

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Self-organized structures in a superorganism: do ants “behave” like molecules?

Cited by 205 publications

References 132 publications

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

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

Ant colonies outperform individuals when a sensory discrimination task is difficult but not when it is easy

It's Not a Bug, It's a Feature: Functional Materials in Insects

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