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Individual and collective choice: Parallel prospecting and mining in ants

Aleksiev, Antony S.; Longdon, Ben; Christmas, Matthew J.; Sendova-Franks, Ana B.; Franks, Nigel R.

Authors

Antony S. Aleksiev

Ben Longdon

Matthew J. Christmas

Ana Sendova-Franks Ana.Sendova-Franks@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Biometry & Animal Behaviour

Nigel R. Franks



Abstract

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. © 2007 Springer-Verlag.

Citation

Aleksiev, A. S., Longdon, B., Christmas, M. J., Sendova-Franks, A. B., & Franks, N. R. (2008). Individual and collective choice: Parallel prospecting and mining in ants. Naturwissenschaften, 95(4), 301-305. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0329-9

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Apr 1, 2008
Journal Naturwissenschaften
Print ISSN 0028-1042
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 95
Issue 4
Pages 301-305
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0329-9
Keywords ant, nest excavation, aggregation, self-organisation, temnothorax albipennis
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1016531
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-007-0329-9