Biology ETDs

Publication Date

7-1-2015

Abstract

Animals constantly process information from their environment. In social organisms, information exchange among individuals allows for behaviors to be finely tuned to local environmental cues. Such is the case of foraging in ants, where sharing information about the distribution of resources can drive adaptive behaviors to exploit those resources. In a first study, we quantified how clustering of experimental seed baits significantly increased foraging rates of seed harvester ants. That study found that species with larger colonies were no better than species with smaller colonies at collecting clumped seeds. In a second study, we integrated computer simulations, information science and computational analysis to re-analyze data. We found that seed intake patterns from larger colonies were more consistent with foraging patterns generated by behaviors that use information, such as recruitment and site fidelity, particularly for foraging on clustered distributions of resources. Finally, we studied recruitment behavior in large colonies of Argentine ants. Our results indicate that Argentine ants recruit nestmates to food directly from persistent nearby trails. Once ants find a new food source, they walk back and forth between the bait and sometimes share food by trophallaxis with nestmates on the trail. Recruiting ants from nearby persistent trails creates a dynamic circuit, like those found in other distributed systems, which facilitates a quick response to changes in available resources. These studies quantify how remembering and communicating information in a range of colony sizes increase foraging rates.

Language

English

Keywords

ant foraging, information, colony size

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Biology

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

UNM Biology Department

First Committee Member (Chair)

Brown, James

Second Committee Member

Wearing, Helen

Third Committee Member

Gordon, Deborah

Additional Files
SupplementalData_TatianaPazFlanagan.pdf (240 kB)
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