Collaborative Research: Dynamic ant networks: How environmental constraints and ecological context shape resource transport systems

许多蚂蚁将蚁群成员和资源分布在多个巢穴中；巢穴之间的移动是由持久的轨迹网络维持的。这些蚂蚁运输系统在有益和有害物种中很常见，在许多方面与人类运输系统相似。就像地铁系统和道路网络一样，它们的目标是快速有效地将资源和人员从一个地方转移到另一个地方。在交通系统中有替代路线可以使旅行更快、更可靠，特别是在某些路线中断或积压的情况下。然而，额外的路线需要额外的资源。以最小的成本设计一个高效可靠的运输系统，即使对人类工程师来说也是一个难题，他们可以从整个系统的角度出发。相比之下，蚁群在构建交通网络时没有中心愿景或总体规划。然而，某些物种能够创造出非常可靠、高效和低成本的系统。这项研究将开发一个新的框架来解释蚁群是如何通过逐步修改而不是设计的过程来创建这种功能良好的运输系统的。本科生、研究生和两名博士后研究员将作为一个跨学科的国际团队的一部分接受指导。来自STEM中代表性不足群体的高中生将在pi的指导下由本科生指导。这项研究可能有助于激发针对入侵蚂蚁害虫的新管理策略，以及人类运输系统的新设计算法。研究结果将通过一系列短片、佛罗里达州立公园的展览和演讲，以及一个由本科生撰写的博客与公众分享。尽管生物和人为设计的交通网络无处不在，但目前还没有统一的框架来预测它们如何动态响应和适应外部压力，以平衡基础设施成本、运输效率和稳健性。该项目的中心目标是发展一个关于环境约束和机遇如何塑造动态交通网络的一般理论，强调网络结构和功能之间的相互作用。基于生成代理的网络方法将用于创建动态交通网络的一般模型。该模型将探讨网络如何通过在一系列生态约束下运行的动态网络重组过程有效地应对环境挑战。该模型将首先用陆地木蚁网络的现有数据进行参数化和测试，并根据结果进行改进。然后，该模型将对树栖龟蚁所占据的参数空间的不同区域进行预测，并使用有关龟蚁网络结构和使用的新现场数据进行测试。最后，将对该模型进行实地和实验室实验，其中将跟踪其运输网络随资源分布，干扰模式和空间约束变化的动态响应。该项目的目标是发展理论，有可能统一跨生物系统的动态交通网络研究，并可能应用于各种自然和人类问题。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many ants distribute their colony members and resources across multiple nests; movement between nests is maintained by a network of persistent trails. These ant transportation systems, common among beneficial and pest species, are similar to human transportation systems in many ways. Like subway systems and road networks, their goal is to move resources and individuals quickly and efficiently from place to place. Having alternative routes within a transportation system can make travel faster and more reliable, especially following disruptions or backlogs on particular routes. Yet extra routes cost additional resources. Designing an efficient and reliable transportation system at minimal cost is a difficult problem even for human engineers, who can take a system-wide perspective. Ant colonies, in contrast, build their transportation networks with no central vision or overarching plan. Certain species are nonetheless able to create systems that are remarkably reliable, efficient, and low-cost. This research will develop a new framework to explain how ant colonies create such well-functioning transportation systems via a process of gradual modification rather than design. Undergraduates, graduate students and two postdoctoral researchers will be mentored as part of an interdisciplinary, international team. High school students from groups underrepresented in STEM will be mentored by undergraduates with guidance from the PIs. This research could help inspire new management strategies for invasive ant pests, and new design algorithms for human transportation systems. Results will be shared with the public via a series of short films, exhibits and presentations at Florida state parks, and an established undergraduate-authored blog.Despite the ubiquity of biological and human-engineered transportation networks, there is no unifying framework for predicting how they respond dynamically and adaptively to external pressures in a way that balances infrastructure cost, transportation efficiency, and robustness. The central objective of the project is to develop a general theory for how environmental constraints and opportunities shape dynamic transportation networks, emphasizing the interactions between network structure and function. A generative agent-based network approach will be used to create a general model of dynamic transportation networks. The model will explore how networks respond effectively to environmental challenges via processes of dynamic network restructuring that operate under a range of ecological constraints. The model will be parameterized and tested initially with existing data for terrestrial wood-ant networks, and refined based on the results. Predictions will then be generated by the model for the substantially different region of the parameter space occupied by arboreal turtle ants, and tested with new field data on turtle ant network structure and usage. Finally, the model will be challenged with field and laboratory experiments using turtle ants, where the dynamic response of their transportation network will be tracked following changes to resource distributions, disturbance patterns, and spatial constraints. The project targets the development of theory with the potential to unify research on dynamic transportation networks across biological systems, with possible applications to a variety of natural and human problems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.