Short-Term Activity Cycles in Leptothorax Ants

行为研究中的一个基本问题是从社会单元内的个人行为中出现社会行为的复杂性。如果一个社会群体的特征可以用个人的总和行为来解释，那么社会行为就是个人行为的结果。如果一个群体的特征不是简单地归因于个人的总和行为，那么社会行为就具有突发性。众所周知，群居昆虫具有组成群居的个体所不具备的群居属性。一个群体的活动是其所有其他行为的基础。科尔博士发现，蚂蚁Leptothorax allardycei的巢内活动具有短期周期，活动脉冲大约每隔20分钟发生一次。单独的、孤立的蚂蚁不会表现出这种活动规律，但随着越来越多的蚂蚁加入群落，这种周期性就会出现。本研究的目的是从单个蚂蚁的行为和运动模式来分析群体中周期性的产生。科尔博士将开发单个蚂蚁运动模式的计算机模型，包括它们的移动速度、转角和它们在巢中的位置。这些信息将与它们对与其他蚂蚁相遇的反应、相遇对单个蚂蚁随后活动的概率的影响以及相互同步的活动的信息结合在一起，以产生一个群体活动的计算机模型。这一模型将通过使用报警信息素直接操纵菌落的活动来进行测试。科尔博士的研究是朝着理解一个社会单位中的个人产生社会现象的机制迈出的重要一步。在我们了解社会相互作用的机制之前，我们仍然不可能预测群体生活的后果和自然选择对社会行为的影响。

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.