title: From individual to collective dynamics in Argentine ants (Linepithema humile).
abstract: In this paper we propose a model for the formation of paths in Argentine ants when foraging in an empty arena. Based on experimental observations, we provide a distribution for the random change in direction that they approximately undergo while foraging as a mixture of a Gaussian and a Pareto distribution. By following the principles described in previous work, we consider persistence and reinforcement to create a model for the motion of ants in the plane. Numerical simulations based on this model lead to the formation of branched ant-trails analogous to those observed experimentally.
authors: Universidad Europea de Madrid, C/ Tajo, Villaviciosa de Odón, Madrid 28670, Spain; Service de Physique de l'Etat Condensé, CEA-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91191, France. Electronic address: mvp_es@yahoo.es.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Vela-Pérez
authors: Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas, (CSIC), C/ Nicolás Cabrera 15, Madrid 28049, Spain. Electronic address: marco.fontelos@icmat.es.
authors: M A
authors: MA
authors: Fontelos
authors: Department of Biological Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, United States. Electronic address: simon.garnier@gmail.com.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Garnier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D008124:Locomotion; D055641:Mathematical Concepts; D008954:Models, Biological; D010675:Pheromones / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D010675:Pheromones
keywords: Ant foraging; Reinforced random walks; Stochastic processes; Transport networks