Searching Behavior and its Organization

一个蚁群如何应对与另一个蚁群的冲突， 蚂蚁在某项任务上付出的努力，往往取决于数量 蚂蚁在场 但是没有一只蚂蚁能够计数。 个体必须使用一些简单的线索来评估巢友密度。 戈登博士将研究一种方法， 感知巢友数量的变化：蚂蚁可能会对 与同窝动物相遇的间隔。 数 如果巢友的数量发生了变化， 变化 巡逻蚂蚁寻找新的食物来源， 干扰。这项研究将涉及计算机分析， 拍摄蚂蚁在新区域巡逻的视频。 路径形状和 遇到率将被检查时， 变化，以及何时引入非巢伴侣。 巡逻 不同种类蚂蚁的策略将被比较。 在许多 社会组织，相遇模式可能是一个至关重要的环节， 个人决策和群体行为之间的关系 群居昆虫提供了一个有趣的机会来研究 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， 个体蚂蚁）遵循本地规则，但产生惊人的全球 复杂性 正如没有细胞指导细胞的分化一样， 胚胎，没有神经元指导大脑的思维，没有昆虫 在群居昆虫群体中指挥其他昆虫的行为。 在 生物学的许多领域都在研究这样的系统， 必须解决的一个根本问题是：地方规则如何 产生全球性的行为？ 戈登博士的研究 调查如何一种类型的规则，响应率 短暂的触角接触，可能在蚁群中起作用。 了解蚁群中群体组织的细节 最终可能有助于阐明一些关于 任何系统的行为，其中简单的相互作用 单位创造了全局复杂性。 新的计算机软件将被开发用于分析的形状， 曲面上的路径在许多研究领域都很有用 除了行为生物学。

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.