Ant groups optimally amplify the effect of transiently informed individuals

Aviram Gelblum, Itai Pinkoviezky, Ehud Fonio, Abhijit Ghosh, Nir Gov and Ofer Feinerman ()
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Aviram Gelblum: Weizmann Institute of Science
Itai Pinkoviezky: Weizmann Institute of Science
Ehud Fonio: Weizmann Institute of Science
Abhijit Ghosh: Weizmann Institute of Science
Nir Gov: Weizmann Institute of Science
Ofer Feinerman: Weizmann Institute of Science

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract To cooperatively transport a large load, it is important that carriers conform in their efforts and align their forces. A downside of behavioural conformism is that it may decrease the group’s responsiveness to external information. Combining experiment and theory, we show how ants optimize collective transport. On the single-ant scale, optimization stems from decision rules that balance individuality and compliance. Macroscopically, these rules poise the system at the transition between random walk and ballistic motion where the collective response to the steering of a single informed ant is maximized. We relate this peak in response to the divergence of susceptibility at a phase transition. Our theoretical models predict that the ant-load system can be transitioned through the critical point of this mesoscopic system by varying its size; we present experiments supporting these predictions. Our findings show that efficient group-level processes can arise from transient amplification of individual-based knowledge.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms8729

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