Ants can sort their brood without a gaseous template

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.     

矿山开采非线性沉陷学说初论

讨论基于岩体工程属性和矿山开采沉陷本质特征而建立非线性沉陷学说的正确性和可行性;总结了近年来笔者在非线性沉陷问题方面所做的大量实验、现场勘测、研究和取得的成果：采动岩体的非线性破坏特征、开采沉陷的Ｄａｍ ａｇｅ效应、采动岩体分形裂隙网络及演化规律、开采沉陷的协同效应和自组织过程、采动岩体层裂的突变机理、采动断层活化的分形界面效应、地表下沉的“Ｓ”型分形增长规律;提出了建立基于矿山开采非线性沉陷机理、规律的预测模型和防治对策及非线性沉陷学的学术思想     

Integrated coastal management: the challenge of transdisciplinarity

The Euroconference on Coastal Management Research held in San-Feliu de Guixols, Spain, in December 1997 brought together scientists from a great variety of disciplines in the natural and social sciences, in a search for modes of transdisciplinary cooperation in the context of integrated coastal management. During the conference the participants discussed which interactions among disciplines are required for different coastal issues. Discussion groups each focused on a particular type of coastal environment, characterized by a particular type and degree of development. The group discussions were inspired by background papers which were prepared for this purpose by invited speakers. A selection of these background papers were redrafted on the basis of the conference outcome, and are published in this issue of theJournal of Coastal Conservation. The reports of the discussion groups are published in a conference proceedings booklet issued by EMAPS (1998), the European Polar and Marine Sciences Secretariat. A synthesis of ideas on the challenge of transdisciplinarity, expressed during the discussion group sessions, is presented in this introduction. The statements reflect opinions or suggestions which received broad support from the participants; they should not be taken as proven knowledge.     

Self-organized digging activity in ant colonies

Many ant species adjust the volume of their underground nest to the colony size. We studied whether the regulation of the volume of excavated sand could result from an interplay between recruitment processes and ant density. Experiments were performed with different group sizes of workers in the ant Messor sancta. When presented with a thin homogeneous sand disk, these groups excavated networks of galleries in less than 3 days. The excavation dynamics were logistic shaped, which suggests the existence of a double feedback system: a positive one resulting in an initial exponential growth phase, and a negative one leading the dynamics to a saturation phase. The total volume of excavated sand was almost proportional to the number of workers. We then developed a model in which we incorporated the quantitative behavioral rules of the workers digging activity. A positive feedback was introduced in the form of a recruitment process mediated by pheromones. The model predicts that the excavation dynamics should be logistic shaped and the excavation should almost stop despite the absence of any explicit negative feedback. Moreover, the model was able to reproduce the positive linear relationship between nest volume and colony size.Communicated by K. Ross     

Salt-marshes as emergent novelties in the Venice Lagoon

It has been observed in Venice Lagoon that salt-marshes have appeared and developed as a consequence of the presence of artificial or biological confinements, maintaining separation domains in the hydrodynamic wave and tidal flow field.     

Indicating ecosystem integrity — theoretical concepts and environmental requirements

This paper discusses some conceptual fundamentals for the derivation of environmental indicator sets. On the one hand, it defines requirements from environmental politics, environmental management and legislation, reaching from political target hierarchies and sustainable management strategies to holistic protection concepts such as process protection, resource preservation, ecosystem health and ecological integrity. On the other hand, demands from ecosystem theory are described which include the consideration of features such as self-organization, emergence, thermodynamics, gradients and ecological orientors in environmental indicator sets. From that concept, collective and emergent properties are selected and eight holistic ecosystem features are presented that indicate the ecosystemic state as an ensemble. These general indicators of ecosystem integrity are supplemented by variables on structural changes and substance dynamics.     

Scaling-up spatially-explicit ecological models using graphics processors

How the properties of ecosystems relate to spatial scale is a prominent topic in current ecosystem research. Despite this, spatially explicit models typically include only a limited range of spatial scales, mostly because of computing limitations. Here, we describe the use of graphics processors to efficiently solve spatially explicit ecological models at large spatial scale using the CUDA language extension. We explain this technique by implementing three classical models of spatial self-organization in ecology: a spiral-wave forming predator-prey model, a model of pattern formation in arid vegetation, and a model of disturbance in mussel beds on rocky shores. Using these models, we show that the solutions of models on large spatial grids can be obtained on graphics processors with up to two orders of magnitude reduction in simulation time relative to normal pc processors. This allows for efficient simulation of very large spatial grids, which is crucial for, for instance, the study of the effect of spatial heterogeneity on the formation of self-organized spatial patterns, thereby facilitating the comparison between theoretical results and empirical data. Finally, we show that large-scale spatial simulations are preferable over repetitions at smaller spatial scales in identifying the presence of scaling relations in spatially self-organized ecosystems. Hence, the study of scaling laws in ecology may benefit significantly from implementation of ecological models on graphics processors.     

Assessing self-organization of plant communities—A thermodynamic approach

Thermodynamics is a powerful tool for the study of system development and has the potential to be applied to studies of ecological complexity. Here, we develop a set of thermodynamic indicators including energy capture and energy dissipation to quantify plant community self-organization. The study ecosystems included a tropical seasonal rainforest, an artificial tropical rainforest, a rubber plantation, and two Chromolaena odorata (L.) R.M. King & H. Robinson communities aged 13 years and 1 year. The communities represent a complexity transect from primary vegetation, to transitional community, economic plantation, and fallows and are typical for Xishuangbanna, southwestern China. The indicators of ecosystem self-organization are sensitive to plant community type and seasonality, and demonstrate that the tropical seasonal rainforest is highly self-organized and plays an important role in local environmental stability via the land surface thermal regulation. The rubber plantation is at a very low level of self-organization as quantified by the thermodynamic indicators, especially during the dry season. The expansion of the area of rubber plantation and shrinkage of tropical seasonal rainforest would likely induce local surface warming and a larger daily temperature range.     

Wildfire, landscape diversity and the Drossel-Schwabl model

How simple can a model be that still captures essential aspects of wildfire ecosystems at large spatial and temporal scales? The Drossel-Schwabl model (DSM) is a metaphorical forest-fire model developed to reproduce only one pattern of real systems: a frequency distribution of fire sizes resembling a power law. Consequently, and because it appears oversimplified, it remains unclear what bearings the DSM has in reality. Here, we test whether the DSM is capable of reproducing a pattern that was not considered in its design, the hump-shaped relation between the diversity of succession stages and average annual area burnt. We found that the model, once reformulated to represent succession, produces realistic landscape diversity patterns. We investigated four succession scenarios of forest-fire ecosystems in the USA and Canada. In all scenarios, landscape diversity is highest at an intermediate average annual area burnt as predicted by the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. These results show that a model based solely on the dynamics of the fuel mosaic has surprisingly high predictive power with regard to observed statistical properties of wildfire systems at large spatial scales. Parsimonious models, such as the DSM can be used as starting points for systematic development of more structurally realistic but tractable wildfire models. Due to their simplicity they allow analytical approaches that further our understanding under increasing complexity.