Complex trails and simple algorithms in ant foraging

T. R. Stickland; N. F. Britton; N. R. Franks

doi:10.1098/rspb.1995.0058

Complex trails and simple algorithms in ant foraging

T. R. Stickland, N. F. Britton, N. R. Franks

University College Dublin

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Self-organization can account for certain patterns of behaviour in social insects, and simple rules of interaction between individuals can lead to emergent patterns in the colony. We demonstrate algorithms that enable an ant colony to solve complex path choice problems. It is possible for the colony to select one foraging site out of many without any global knowledge or comparative judgements by individual ants. We show how this can lead to a greatly enhanced probability of each forage returning to the nest with food.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	53-58
Number of pages	6
Journal	Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Volume	260
Issue number	1357
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1995.0058
Publication status	Published - 1995

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title = "Complex trails and simple algorithms in ant foraging",

abstract = "Self-organization can account for certain patterns of behaviour in social insects, and simple rules of interaction between individuals can lead to emergent patterns in the colony. We demonstrate algorithms that enable an ant colony to solve complex path choice problems. It is possible for the colony to select one foraging site out of many without any global knowledge or comparative judgements by individual ants. We show how this can lead to a greatly enhanced probability of each forage returning to the nest with food.",

author = "Stickland, {T. R.} and Britton, {N. F.} and Franks, {N. R.}",

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AB - Self-organization can account for certain patterns of behaviour in social insects, and simple rules of interaction between individuals can lead to emergent patterns in the colony. We demonstrate algorithms that enable an ant colony to solve complex path choice problems. It is possible for the colony to select one foraging site out of many without any global knowledge or comparative judgements by individual ants. We show how this can lead to a greatly enhanced probability of each forage returning to the nest with food.

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Complex trails and simple algorithms in ant foraging

Abstract

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