Short-Term Activity Cycles in Leptothorax Ants

行为研究中的一个基本问题是 社会行为的复杂性， 在社会单位内。 如果一个社会群体的特征 可以用个人行为的总和来解释，那么 社会行为是个人行为的结果。 如果 一个群体的特征不仅仅是由于 个人行为，那么社会行为就有了一个 财产 众所周知，群居昆虫具有殖民地的特性 组成殖民地的个体中不存在的。 蚁群的活动是它所有其他行为的基础。 博士 科尔发现，一种鸟类的巢内活动 蚂蚁，细胸allardycei，有短期周期，脉冲 每隔大约20分钟发生一次活动。 单个的、孤立的蚂蚁并不表现出这种规律性， 活动，但随着越来越多的蚂蚁 添加到aggregate。 本研究项目的目的是分析生产 从蜂群的行为和运动 个体蚂蚁的模式。 科尔博士将开发一台电脑 个体蚂蚁的运动模式模型，包括 它们的运动速度、转动角度和位置 它们所占据的巢穴。 这些信息将被合并 与其他蚂蚁相遇时的反应 一次遭遇对随后的可能性的影响 个体蚂蚁的活动， 活动，以产生殖民地活动的计算机模型。 这个模型将通过直接操作活动来测试 通过使用报警信息素的殖民地。 科尔博士的研究是朝着获得一个 理解一个人在一个 社会单位产生社会现象。 直到我们明白 社会互动机制，它将仍然不可能， 预测群体生活的后果以及 社会行为的自然选择。

A fundamental problem in the study of behavior is the emergence of complexity of social behavior from the behavior of individuals within the social unit. If the characteristics of a social group can be accounted for by the summed actions of individuals, then social behavior is a resultant of individual behavior. If the characteristics of a group are not simply due to the summed actions of individuals, then social behavior has an emergent property. Social insects are well known to have attributes of the colony that are not present among the individuals comprising the colony. The activity of a colony is basic to all its other behavior. Dr. Cole has discovered that activity within nests of a species of ant, Leptothorax allardycei, has short-term cycles, with pulses of activity occurring at intervals of approximately 20 minutes. Individual, isolated ants do not show this regularity of activity, but the periodicity emerges as more and more ants are added to the aggregate. The purpose of this research project is to analyze the production of periodicity in colonies from the behavior and movement patterns of individual ants. Dr. Cole will develop a computer model of the movement patterns of individual ants, including their velocity of movement, turning angles, and position within the nest that they occupy. This information will be combined with information on their response to encounters with other ants, the effect of an encounter on the probability of subsequent activity by an individual ant, and mutual synchronization of activity to produce a computer model of the activity of a colony. This model will be tested by direct manipulation of the activity of colonies through the use of alarm pheromones. Dr. Cole's research is an important step toward gaining an understanding of the mechanisms by which the individuals within a social unit produce social phenomena. Until we understand the mechanisms of social interaction, it will remain impossible to predict the consequences of group living and the effects of natural selection on social behavior.