The formation of spatial patterns in social insects: from simple behaviours to complex structures.
Many of the collective activities performed by social insects result in the formation of complex spatio-temporal patterns. Without centralized control, workers are able to work together and collectively tackle tasks far beyond the abilities of any one individual. The resulting patterns produced by a colony are not explicitly coded at the individual level, but rather emerge from nonlinear interactions between individuals or between individuals and their environment. We present a few selected examples to illustrate some of the basic mechanisms used by social insects, such as templates, stigmergy and self-organization. These mechanisms can be used in combination to organize pattern formation at the colony level.
Theraulaz
Guy
G
CNR-FRE 2382, Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 4, France.
Gautrais
Jacques
J
Camazine
Scott
S
Deneubourg
Jean-Louis
JL
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D012919:Social Behavior; D013045:Species Specificity