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

许多蚂蚁将它们的群体成员和资源分布在多个巢穴中;巢穴之间的移动是由一个持久的路径网络维持的。这些蚂蚁的运输系统在有益物种和有害物种中很常见，在许多方面与人类的运输系统相似。就像地铁系统和公路网络一样，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。在交通系统中拥有替代路线可以使旅行更快，更可靠，特别是在特定路线中断或积压之后。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交通系统，即使对于能够从系统角度出发的人类工程师来说也是一个难题。相比之下，蚁群在没有中央愿景或总体规划的情况下构建交通网络。尽管如此，某些物种仍然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如何通过逐渐修改而不是设计的过程来创建功能良好的交通系统。本科生，研究生和两名博士后研究人员将作为跨学科，国际团队的一部分进行指导。来自STEM中代表性不足的群体的高中生将在PI的指导下接受本科生的指导。这项研究可能有助于激发入侵性蚂蚁害虫的新管理策略，以及人类交通系统的新设计算法。研究结果将通过一系列短片、展览和在佛罗里达州立公园的演讲以及一个由本科生撰写的博客与公众分享。尽管生物和人类工程交通网络无处不在，但没有统一的框架来预测它们如何动态地适应外部压力，从而平衡基础设施成本、运输效率和鲁棒性。该项目的中心目标是开发一个一般理论，环境约束和机会如何塑造动态交通网络，强调网络结构和功能之间的相互作用。一个基于生成代理的网络方法将被用来创建一个通用的动态交通网络模型。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。该模型将被参数化，并初步测试现有数据的陆地木蚁网络，并根据结果进行完善。然后，预测将产生的模型所占据的参数空间的树栖龟蚁的显着不同的区域，并测试与新的领域数据龟蚁网络结构和使用。最后，该模型将受到挑战的领域和实验室实验使用龟蚁，在那里的动态响应的运输网络将跟踪资源分布，干扰模式和空间限制的变化。该项目的目标是理论的发展，有可能统一跨生物系统的动态运输网络的研究，并有可能应用于各种自然和人类问题。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.