Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Asaf Gal, Daniel J. C. Kronauer
Summary: This study reveals the collective sensory response threshold of ant colonies and uncovers the mechanism behind it, which is regulated by social feedback between ants. By building a network model, researchers demonstrate that the balance between short-range excitatory and long-range inhibitory interactions is responsible for the emergence of the collective response threshold and its size dependency.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Entomology
Deborah M. Gordon
Summary: Spatial patterns of movement in social insects play a crucial role in regulating behavior, with encounter rate serving as a cue for local density and influencing collective behaviors such as task allocation, nest choice, and traffic flow. As colonies age and grow, encounter rates change, leading to adjustments in task allocation. Nest size and connectivity also impact colony behavior through their influence on local density and movement patterns. However, encounter rates are not solely determined by local density, as individuals can alter their movement in response to encounters, affecting further encounters and behavior within and among colonies.
ANNALS OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Emily Zhang, Jiajia Zhao, Nancy Lynch
Summary: In this study, the problem of house-hunting in ant colonies is examined from a distributed computing perspective. A biologically-inspired house-hunting algorithm, based on the behavior of Temnothorax ants, is proposed. The research shows a lower bound of omega(logn) on the running time of the algorithm, where n is the number of ants. Additionally, a matching upper bound of expected O(logn) rounds is demonstrated for environments with only one candidate nest. This work provides insights into the house-hunting process and sheds light on the impact of environmental factors on the migration process.
JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Mathematics, Applied
Tao Feng
Summary: This paper develops a collective foraging model based on stochastic differential equations to evaluate the impact of environmental stochasticity on the collective foraging dynamics of social ants. The study finds that environmental stochasticity leads to a decrease in the effective recruitment rate and average foraging period of foragers, ultimately negatively affecting the average recruitment ability of single returning forager.
APPLIED MATHEMATICS LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Zoology
Slawomir Mitrus
Summary: Acorn ants prefer nest cavities with pieces of dead wood, but the availability of dead wood during the experiment did not have a significant influence on colony growth or productivity.
EUROPEAN ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Axel Abels, Tom Lenaerts, Vito Trianni, Ann Nowe
Summary: Many real-world problems can be formulated as decision-making problems, and multiple expert opinions can help make correct decisions. This paper proposes a new algorithmic approach based on contextual multi-armed bandit problems to identify and counteract biased expertise.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
D. M. Gordon, E. Steiner, Biplabendu Das, N. S. Walker
Summary: The red harvester ant exhibits collective behavioural plasticity in response to water stress. Differences among ant colonies in regulating foraging activity persist from year to year, which may contribute to their evolutionary rescue from drought due to climate change.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Daniele Carlesso, Justin M. McNab, Christopher J. Lustri, Simon Garnier, Chris R. Reid
Summary: In this study, the researchers combined experimental analyses with theoretical modeling to investigate how animal groups modulate their investment into tasks under uncertain conditions. They found that weaver ants cap their investment into chains and do not form complete chains when the gap is taller than 90 mm. The ants budget the time they spend in chains based on their distance to the ground, and a distance-based model of chain formation explains this tradeoff without invoking complex cognition.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biology
Meihong Wu, Xiaoyan Cao, Ming Yang, Xiaoyu Cao, Shihui Guo
Summary: In this article, a large-scale ant dataset is provided using the image sequence marking software VisualMarkData, contributing to the study of ant behavior.
Review
Entomology
Eva Horna-Lowell, Kevin M. Neumann, Sean O'Fallon, Ana Rubio, Noa Pinter-Wollman
Summary: Consistent differences in behavior exist among individual animals, known as animal personalities, which are ubiquitous. In social insects, these differences manifest at multiple biological scales: workers and colonies. Most ants are subject to natural selection at the colony level, meaning differences in collective behavior among colonies can have significant ecological and evolutionary consequences.
MYRMECOLOGICAL NEWS
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
J. Benjamin Falandays, Samuel Spevack, Philip Parnamets, Michael Spivey
Summary: Understanding how human decision making is influenced by automated systems in the environment is crucial as human-machine interfaces become more common in everyday life. Factors such as location, cost, and timing can impact choices, with simulations showing varying effects based on different manipulations. The study aims to explore the synergies between humans and machines in order to gain insight into evolving decisions.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Timothy W. Dunn, Jesse D. Marshall, Kyle S. Severson, Diego E. Aldarondo, David G. C. Hildebrand, Selmaan N. Chettih, William L. Wang, Amanda J. Gellis, David E. Carlson, Dmitriy Aronov, Winrich A. Freiwald, Fan Wang, Bence P. Olveczky
Summary: The study introduces a method called DANNCE, which tracks whole-body movements of animals in 3D and robustly tracks anatomical landmarks in freely moving animals. By constructing inputs to a convolutional neural network based on projective geometry, quantitative profiling of behavioral lineage in animals was achieved.
Review
Behavioral Sciences
M. Gabriela Navas-Zuloaga, Theodore P. Pavlic, Brian H. Smith
Summary: Understanding the origins and maintenance of cognitive variation in animal populations is important for the study of the evolution of cognition. Eusocial-insect colonies serve as a tractable alternative model system to study emergent cognitive-like properties. This review focuses on the individual-scale mechanisms that cause group-level variation in problem-solving abilities.
TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Mingli Lu, Benlian Xu, Brett Nener, Jinliang Cong, Jian Shi
Summary: This study proposes a self-regulated cell tracking method based on ant colony and pheromone field, utilizing strategies such as foraging range, re-sampling, and stopping criteria. The algorithm demonstrates effectiveness in cell tracking and outperforms compared methods.
APPLIED INTELLIGENCE
(2022)
Article
Biology
Subekshya Bidari, Zachary P. Kilpatrick
Summary: Honey bees make decisions regarding foraging and nest-site selection in groups, and the spatial properties of the hive and the movement of individuals with different beliefs within it affect the rate of information transmission. Research shows that different belief states of individuals in a hive play a crucial role in collective decision-making, influencing the effectiveness of communication and recruitment within the group.
JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biology
Audrey Dussutour, Qi Ma, David Sumpter
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2019)
Article
Biology
L. Briard, C. Goujarde, C. Bousquet, A. Dussutour
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2020)
Review
Ecology
Jonathan Z. Shik, Audrey Dussutour
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2020)
Review
Biology
Aurele Boussard, Adrian Fessel, Christina Oettmeier, Lea Briard, Hans-Guenther Doebereiner, Audrey Dussutour
Summary: The slime mould Physarum polycephalum uses information from previous experiences to adjust its behavior, with a possible role of oscillations in learning and memory. It shares similarities with the network of synaptic connections in animal brains but has a unique architecture driven by distinct oscillations. These oscillating networks may sustain learning abilities similar to how modulation of spontaneous oscillations in the brain supports learning.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Sebastien Demeter, Olivier Lebbe, Florence Hecq, Stamatios C. Nicolis, Tierry Kenne Kemene, Henri Martin, Marie-Laure Fauconnier, Thierry Hance
Summary: Essential oils are considered as potential alternatives to synthetic insecticides for controlling the granary weevil. Garlic oil showed the highest toxicity, followed by wintergreen, mint, and eucalyptus oils. Most essential oils had low impact of exposure time, and the developed methodology enables standardized testing of a large array of essential oils for potential biocide development.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Audrey Dussutour
Summary: Learning is crucial for all species to adapt to environmental challenges, and there is evidence suggesting that single cell organisms may possess learning abilities, displaying habituation behavior and potentially more advanced forms of learning. The focus for the future is not on whether single cell organisms meet the criteria of learning defined in animal systems, but on understanding the behavioral plasticity exhibited by these fascinating organisms.
BIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Entomology
Francois Renoz, Sebastien Demeter, Herve Degand, Stamatios C. Nicolis, Olivier Lebbe, Henri Martin, Jean-Louis Deneubourg, Marie-Laure Fauconnier, Pierre Morsomme, Thierry Hance
Summary: The study evaluated the contact toxicity and modes of action of Mentha arvensis essential oil on the granary weevil and found significant physiological changes in exposed insects. The majority of differentially expressed proteins were related to muscle and nervous systems, cellular respiration, protein synthesis, and detoxification, suggesting a broad impact on various biological processes. This research sheds light on the repair mechanisms employed by surviving insects and opens new perspectives on bio-rational insecticides for controlling pests of stored cereals.
JOURNAL OF PEST SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Alexandre Campo, Stamatios C. Nicolis, Jean-Louis Deneubourg
Summary: Remembering information is crucial for adaptation and behavior adjustment in both living organisms and artificial systems. Pavlov's experiments demonstrate how single animals can trigger behavioral responses based on memory of stimuli associated with rewards. Researchers propose a novel behavior based on aggregation process to enable robotic swarm to exhibit collective memory.
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mariano Calvo Martin, Max Eeckhout, Jean-Louis Deneubourg, Stamatios C. Nicolis
Summary: The study found that in social cockroaches, the robustness of consensus is not affected by the proportion of naive individuals, but the rate and frequency of selection of odor shelters are correlated to this proportion. In mixed groups, naive individuals act as influencers.
Article
Biology
Stamatios C. Nicolis, Jean-Louis Deneubourg
Summary: The study uses a minimalistic mathematical model to evaluate the impact of interindividual differences on collective decision-making. It shows that heterogeneous groups are more efficient in their decision-making, especially in small group sizes. Additionally, an explosion of accessible stable states is observed when cooperativity becomes very large.
JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
James A. R. Marshall, Andreagiovanni Reina, Celia Hay, Audrey Dussutour, Angelo Pirrone
Summary: This study extends the theoretical analysis of geometric time-discounting to ternary choices for the first time and presents novel experimental evidence for magnitude-sensitivity in such decisions. The results suggest that geometric discounting is the predominant explanation for magnitude sensitivity.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Entomology
L. Pedraza, J. Heinze, A. Dussutour, A. Bernadou
Summary: Laboratory studies on insects face challenges of maintaining them under artificial conditions and limited spaces. We developed a new setup using a sponge and plaster to provide water source for ants. The setup worked well for different ant species in various conditions, reducing costs and preventing drowning.
Article
Biology
Angele Rolland, Emilie Pasquier, Paul Malvezin, Craig Cassandra, Mathilde Dumas, A. Dussutour
Summary: In this study, the authors investigated the behavioural changes in the acellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum with age. They found that migration speed decreased with age, but decision making and learning abilities did not deteriorate. Older slime moulds were able to temporarily recover their behavioural performances through a dormant stage or fusion with young slime moulds. Additionally, both old and young slime moulds were attracted preferentially towards cues released by young slime moulds. This study expands our knowledge on the behavioural plasticity of single-celled organisms and highlights slime moulds as a promising model for investigating the effects of ageing on behaviour at the cellular level.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Entomology
S. C. Nicolis, A. Pin, M. Calvo Martin, I. Planas-Sitja, J. -L. Deneubourg
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
V. Basios, S. Nicolis
NONLINEAR PHENOMENA IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS
(2020)
Article
Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications
Bo Li, Tian Huang
Summary: This paper proposes an approximate optimal strategy based on a piecewise parameterization and optimization (PPAO) method for solving optimization problems in stochastic control systems. The method obtains a piecewise parameter control by solving first-order differential equations, which simplifies the control form and ensures a small model error.
CHAOS SOLITONS & FRACTALS
(2024)
Article
Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications
Guram Mikaberidze, Sayantan Nag Chowdhury, Alan Hastings, Raissa M. D'Souza
Summary: This study explores the collective behavior of interacting entities, focusing on the co-evolution of diverse mobile agents in a heterogeneous environment network. Increasing agent density, introducing heterogeneity, and designing the network structure intelligently can promote agent cohesion.
CHAOS SOLITONS & FRACTALS
(2024)
Article
Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications
Gengxiang Wang, Yang Liu, Caishan Liu
Summary: This investigation studies the impact behavior of a contact body in a fluidic environment. A dissipated coefficient is introduced to describe the energy dissipation caused by hydrodynamic forces. A new fluid damping factor is derived to depict the coupling between liquid and solid, as well as the coupling between solid and solid. A new coefficient of restitution (CoR) is proposed to determine the actual physical impact. A new contact force model with a fluid damping factor tailored for immersed collision events is proposed.
CHAOS SOLITONS & FRACTALS
(2024)