title: How ants use quorum sensing to estimate the average quality of a fluctuating resource.
abstract: We show that one of the advantages of quorum-based decision-making is an ability to estimate the average value of a resource that fluctuates in quality. By using a quorum threshold, namely the number of ants within a new nest site, to determine their choice, the ants are in effect voting with their feet. Our results show that such quorum sensing is compatible with homogenization theory such that the average value of a new nest site is determined by ants accumulating within it when the nest site is of high quality and leaving when it is poor. Hence, the ants can estimate a surprisingly accurate running average quality of a complex resource through the use of extraordinarily simple procedures.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol.
authors.forename: Nigel R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Franks
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol.
authors.forename: Jonathan P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Stuttard
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol.|Champalimaud Neuroscience Programme, Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Doran
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol.
authors.forename: Julian C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol.
authors.forename: Maximillian C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Master
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering Design and Mathematics, UWE, Bristol.
authors.forename: Ana B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Sendova-Franks
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering Mathematics, University of Bristol.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematical Sciences &Centre for Mathematical Biology, University of Bath.
authors.forename: Nicholas F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Britton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D053038:Quorum Sensing / Q000502:physiology*