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1.
Elizabeth A. Langridge Ana B. Sendova-Franks Nigel R. Franks 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(3):447-456
Certain groups of organisms are capable of improving their collective performance with experience. In a recent study, we demonstrated
that, over successive emigrations, colonies of the ant Temnothorax albipennis are able to improve their collective performance by reducing the time taken to complete an emigration (Langridge et al.,
Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56:523–529, 2004). In this paper, by recording the performance of individually marked workers during
repeated emigrations, we were able to analyse some of the ways in which time gains are achieved. We found that: (1) those
transporters that also transported in the preceding emigration began to transport earlier in the current emigration and, in
the majority of emigrations, transported more items than those transporters that had not transported in the preceding emigration;
(2) the time that elapsed before the first item was transported into the new nest reduced over successive emigrations, and
this first item was, in the majority of emigrations, carried by a transporter that had also transported in the preceding emigration;
(3) the number of adults that were transported reduced over successive emigrations. Our results strongly suggest that the
behaviour of transporters that also transported in a preceding emigration may be modified as a result of their experience
and that, consequently, their efforts in the next emigration make a major contribution to the improved performance of the
colony as a whole. 相似文献
2.
Elva J. H. Robinson Thomas O. Richardson Ana B. Sendova-Franks Ofer Feinerman Nigel R. Franks 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2009,63(5):779-636
Ant colonies are factories within fortresses (Oster and Wilson 1978). They run on resources foraged from an outside world fraught with danger. On what basis do individual ants decide to leave the safety of the nest? We investigated the relative roles of social information (returning nestmates), individual experience and physiology (lipid stores/corpulence) in predicting which ants leave the nest and when. We monitored Temnothorax albipennis workers individually using passive radio-frequency identification technology, a novel procedure as applied to ants. This method allowed the matching of individual corpulence measurements to activity patterns of large numbers of individuals over several days. Social information and physiology are both good predictors of when an ant leaves the nest. Positive feedback from social information causes bouts of activity at the colony level. When certain social information is removed from the system by preventing ants returning, physiology best predicts which ants leave the nest and when. Individual experience is strongly related to physiology. A small number of lean individuals are responsible for most external trips. An individual’s nutrient status could be a useful cue in division of labour, especially when public information from other ants is unavailable. 相似文献
3.
Norasmah Basari Benita C. Laird-Hopkins Ana B. Sendova-Franks Nigel R. Franks 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2014,101(7):549-556
Tandem running is a recruitment strategy whereby one ant leads a single naïve nest mate to a resource. While tandem running progresses towards the goal, the leader ant and the follower ant maintain contact mainly by tactile signals. In this paper, we investigated whether they also deposit chemical signals on the ground during tandem running. We filmed tandem-running ants and analysed the position of the gasters of leaders and followers. Our results show that leader ants are more likely to press their gasters down to the substrate compared to follower ants, single ants and transporter ants. Forward tandem-run leaders (those moving towards a new nest site) performed such trail-marking procedures three times more often than reverse tandem leaders (those moving towards an old nest site). That leader ants marked the trails more often during forward tandem runs may suggest that it is more important to maintain the bond with the follower ant on forward tandem runs than on reverse tandem runs. Marked trails on the ground may serve as a safety line that improves both the efficiency of tandem runs and their completion rates. 相似文献
4.
Samuel R. Scholes Ana B. Sendova-Franks S. Tim Swift Chris Melhuish 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2006,59(4):531-540
A fundamental issue of collective intelligence is whether the collective pattern or process is based on environmental information
that explicitly codes for it or arises through self-organization of the individuals. Sometimes, these alternatives occur together.
Adaptive systems may also be capable of utilizing different types of mechanism under different conditions. Sendova-Franks
et al. (Anim Behav 68:1095–1106, 2004) demonstrated evidence for a self-organization mechanism of brood sorting in the ant
Temnothorax albipennis, where the brood are sorted in a series of bands or concentric annuli that increase in size with distance from the colony
centre. The work by Cox and Blanchard (J Theor Biol 204:223-238, 2000) suggests an alternative or complementary mechanism
whereby the brood pattern is specified by the template of a CO2 gradient. Here, we test for a gaseous template as a necessary condition for brood sorting. Under the experimental condition,
we pumped the air out of the nest continuously to prevent the accumulation of any gaseous substances. We compared the brood
pattern between the experimental and control conditions according to four characteristics: mean distance from centre, mean
nearest-neighbour distance, shape and area. Under the experimental condition, the order of brood types according to the first
two characteristics was the same as in the control. The area of the brood pattern was smaller, and its shape elongated under
the experimental condition. As expected on the basis of these differences, mean distance from centre was greater and mean
nearest-neighbour distance was smaller under the experimental condition (although not statistically significantly) and by
the expected amount. We found evidence that ants avoid placing brood in the strongest airflow stream. This could explain the
reduced area and elongated shape of the brood pattern under the experimental condition. We conclude that a gaseous template
is not a necessary condition for brood sorting.
Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users. 相似文献
5.
6.
Elizabeth A. Langridge Ana B. Sendova-Franks Nigel R. Franks 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(12):1851-1861
Colonies of the ant Temnothorax albipennis improve their collective performance over successive emigrations (Langridge et al. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56:523–529, 2004,
Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62:447–456, 2008). Here, by analysing the performance of individual transporters (workers that carry
the brood, queen and a proportion of adults), we investigate whether they spend less time at the old and new nests during
repeated emigrations. Transporters expedited choosing and picking up brood items at the old nest and depositing them in the
new nest. Such improvements were not associated with adult transport. Generally, when carrying brood items, but not when carrying
adults, transporters visited several locations in the new nest before depositing them. Transporters did not interact with
other adults when depositing brood items. Consequently, reductions in depositing times are the sum of time savings made by
individual transporters. By contrast, transporters spent most time interacting with other adults before picking up brood items
at the old nest. As the frequency of these interactions did not decline, we suggest the behaviours of interacting adults were
modified in a way that hastened their completion. Thus, reductions in picking-up times probably occur because of time saved
during interactions. 相似文献
7.
8.
Improvement in collective performance with experience in ants 总被引:3,自引:4,他引:3
Elizabeth?A.?Langridge Nigel?R.?FranksEmail author Ana?B.?Sendova-Franks 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2004,56(6):523-529
We show that entire ant colonies can improve their collective performance progressively when they repeat the same process. Colonies of Leptothorax albipennis can reduce their total emigration times over successive emigrations. We show that this improvement is based on experience and some memory-like process, rather than a coincidental developmental change or an increased general level of arousal. We demonstrate that the benefits of experience can be lost (i.e. forgotten) if the interval between successive emigrations is too long. We also show that the benefits of experience are more likely to be retained over a longer period if the collective performance has been repeated several times. This is a new demonstration of a process akin to learning in ants and we briefly discuss how it may involve not only improvements in individual performance but also improvements in the ways in which the ants interact with one another.Communicated by L. Sundström 相似文献
9.
Elizabeth?L.?Franklin Thomas?O.?Richardson Ana?B.?Sendova-Franks Elva?J.?H.?Robinson Nigel?R.?FranksEmail author 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2011,65(4):569-579
During tandem runs, one ant worker recruits another to an important resource. Here, we begin to investigate how dependent
are tandem leaders and followers on visual cues by painting over their compound eyes to impair their vision. There are two
ways in which Temnothorax albipennis might use vision during tandem running. First, the follower might track the movements of the leader by keeping it in sight.
Our results suggest that the ants do not use vision in this way. For example, in all four classes of tandem run (those with
either leader or follower, both, or neither of their participants with visual impairments) progress was most smooth at about
3 mm/s. This suggests that communication between leaders and followers during tandem runs is not based on vision and is purely
tactile and pheromonal. Second, the leader and the follower might be using vision to navigate and our results support this
possibility but also suggest that these ants have other methods of navigation. Ants with visual impairments were more likely
to follow than to lead, but could occupy either role, even though they had many fully sighted nestmates. This might help to
explain why the ants did not focus grooming on their most visually impaired nestmates. Wild-type tandem runs, with both participants
fully sighted and presumably taking time to learn landmarks, were overall significantly slower, smoother, and a little less
tortuous, than the other treatments. All four classes of tandem run significantly increased mean instantaneous speeds and
mean absolute changes in instantaneous acceleration over their journeys. Moreover, tandems with sighted followers increased
their speed with time more than the other treatments. In general, our findings suggest that eyesight is used for navigation
during tandem running but that these ants also probably use other orientation systems during such recruitment and to learn
how to get to new nest sites. Our results suggest that the ants’ methods of teaching and learning are very robust and flexible. 相似文献
10.
Aleksiev AS Longdon B Christmas MJ Sendova-Franks AB Franks NR 《Die Naturwissenschaften》2008,95(4):301-305
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. 相似文献