A Pioneering Study of the Architecture of Ant Nests

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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.