A Pioneering Study of the Architecture of Ant Nests

因为它们在地下，地下蚂蚁的巢穴在很大程度上是看不见和未知的。首席研究员开发了石膏、蜡和金属铸造方法，揭示了蚁巢的显著变化、美丽和物种典型结构。在这些巢穴中，蚁群是自组织的，这样最年轻的工蜂通常和幼虫一起靠近底部，而最年长的工蜂靠近或在表面。对佛罗里达收获蚁的现场和实验室实验将解决三个一般性问题：(1)蚂蚁如何通过自组织挖掘巢穴？是什么行为程序创造了这个惊人的建筑？(2)蚁群通过什么线索在巢空间内组织自己？以前检测到的二氧化碳梯度是否为蚂蚁提供了深度线索，还是它们相互响应以创造观察到的空间安排？(3)建筑的特定特征，或者建筑作为一个整体是否影响群体功能（如生产或效率），如果是，通过什么机制？这是对群居昆虫生物学中一个至关重要的未知方面的开创性研究。蚁巢的模型是自组织行为的精确物理记录，可以很容易地进行研究。这些实验将展示一个由自主代理（蚁工）组成的自组织集体如何使用简单的规则产生复杂的结果（蚁巢）。鸟巢模型已经并将继续在一些公共博物馆展出，向公众展示它们的神奇和美丽。研究生和本科生将接受实地和实验室实验方面的培训。这个项目的广泛影响源于当前对自组织的强烈兴趣，从计算机科学和机器人到许多大型和小规模的人类社会和经济现象。

Because they are below ground, the nests of subterranean ants are largely unseen and unknown. The principle investigator has developed plaster, wax and metal casting methods that have revealed the remarkable variation, beauty and species-typical structure of ant nests. Within these nests, the colony is self-organized such that the youngest workers are generally near the bottom with the brood, and the oldest near or on the surface. Field and laboratory experiments on the Florida harvester ant will address three general questions: (1) How do the ants excavate their nests through self-organization? What behavioral programs operate to create this amazing architecture? (2) Through what cues does the colony organize itself within the nest space? Does the previously detected carbon dioxide gradient provide depth cues to the ants, or do they respond to each other to create the observed spatial arrangement? (3) Do particular features of the architecture, or the architecture as a whole affect colony functions (such as production or efficiency), and if so, through what mechanisms? This is a pioneering study of a crucial, unknown aspect of social insect biology. A cast of an ant nest is an exact physical record of self-organized behavior that can be studied with ease. These experiments will show how a self-organized collective of autonomous agents (ant workers) use simple rules to produce a complex outcome (the nest). The nest casts have and will continue to be displayed in a number of public museums, exposing the public to their wonder and beauty. Graduate and undergraduate students will receive training in field and laboratory experimentation. Broader impacts of this project derive from the current intense interest in self-organization, in fields spanning from computer science and robotics to a number of large- and small-scale human social and economic phenomena.