Searching Behavior and its Organization

一个蚁群如何应对与另一个蚁群的冲突，或者蚂蚁在某项任务中投入多少努力，通常取决于存在的蚂蚁数量。但是没有一只蚂蚁会数数。个体必须使用一些简单的线索来评估巢密度。戈登博士将研究个体感知配偶数量变化的一种方式：蚂蚁可能会对与配偶相遇的间隔时间做出反应。当配偶的数量改变时，遇到配偶的比率也会改变。巡逻的蚂蚁寻找新的食物来源，并对干扰做出反应。这项研究将包括对蚂蚁在新区域巡逻的视频进行计算机分析。路径形状和相遇率将被检查当数量的巢伴侣的变化，当引入非巢伴侣。将比较各种蚂蚁的巡逻策略。在许多社会组织中，遭遇模式可能是个体决策和群体行为之间的关键联系。群居昆虫提供了一个有趣的机会来研究一个与其他生物系统有许多共同特征的系统，从大脑到胚胎。简单的单位（细胞、神经元、单个蚂蚁）遵循局部规则，但却产生了惊人的全球复杂性。正如胚胎中没有细胞指导分化，大脑中没有神经元指导思维一样，在群居的昆虫群体中，也没有昆虫指导其他昆虫的行为。在研究这些系统的许多生物学领域中，必须解决同一个基本问题：局部规则如何产生全局行为？戈登博士的研究是对一种规则的调查，即对短暂触角接触率的反应，如何在蚁群中起作用。了解蚁群中群体组织的细节可能最终有助于阐明一些关于任何系统行为的一般原则，在这些系统中，简单单元之间的相互作用产生了全局复杂性。除了行为生物学之外，用于分析曲面上路径形状的新计算机软件将在许多研究领域发挥作用。

How an ant colony responds to conflict with another one, or how much effort ants put into some task, often depends on the number of ants present. But no individual ant is capable of counting. Individuals must use some simple cue to assess nestmate density. Dr. Gordon will investigate one way that individuals could perceive changes in numbers of nestmates: Ants may respond to the interval between encounters with nestmates. When the number of nestmates is altered, the rate of encountering nestmates will change. Patrolling ants search for new food sources and respond to disturbances. The research will involve computer analysis of video films of ants patrolling new areas. Path shape and encounter rates will be examined when numbers of nestmates change, and when non-nestmates are introduced. Patrolling tactics of a variety of ant species will be compared. In many social organizations, encounter patterns may be a crucial link between individual decisions and group behavior. Social insects present an intriguing opportunity to study a system that has many features in common with other biological systems, from brains to embryos. Simple units (cells, neurons, individual ants) follow local rules but generate amazing global complexity. Just as no cell directs differentiation in the embryo, and no neuron directs thinking in the brain, no insect directs the behavior of the rest in a social insect colony. In the many fields of biology that study such systems, the same fundamental question must be resolved: How do local rules produce global behavior? Dr. Gordon's research is an investigation of how one type of rule, response to the rate of brief antennal contact, may operate in ant colonies. Understanding the details of colony organization in ant colonies may eventually help to elucidate some general principles about the behavior of any system in which interactions among simple units create global complexity. New computer software to be developed for analyzing the shape of paths on curved surfaces will be useful in many areas of study besides behavioral biology.