The synchronization of recruitment-based activities in ants.
A simple model of recruitment-based foraging in ants illustrates the idea that synchronized patterns of activity can endow a colony with the ability to forage more efficiently when a minimal number of active individuals is required to establish and maintain food source exploitation. This model, which can be extended to other activities that involve recruitment, may help explain why bursts of synchronization have been observed in several species of ants.
Bonabeau
E
E
Santa Fe Institute, NM 87501, USA. bonabeau@santafe.edu
Theraulaz
G
G
Deneubourg
J L
JL
D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D008954:Models, Biological; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis