Shape transition during nest digging in ants

Nest building in social insects is among the collective processes that show highly conservative features such as basic modules (chambers and galleries) or homeostatic properties. Although ant nests share common characteristics, they exhibit a high structural variability, of which morphogenesis and u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2009-11, Vol.106 (44), p.18616-18620
Main Authors: Toffin, Etienne, Di Paolo, David, Campo, Alexandre, Detrain, Claire, Deneubourg, Jean-Louis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal behavior
Animals
Ants
Ants - physiology
Biological Sciences
Boring insects
Cavities
colony digging
Computer Simulation
digging
Entomology
Excavations
Experiments
Formicidae
Galleries
Group size
Insect behavior
Insect colonies
Insect morphology
Insect nests
Insects
Lasius niger
Morphogenesis
Morphology
Nest building
Nesting Behavior - physiology
Nests
physical activity
Physical Sciences
population size
Social insects
Stochastic models
Stochasticity
Worker insects
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Summary:Nest building in social insects is among the collective processes that show highly conservative features such as basic modules (chambers and galleries) or homeostatic properties. Although ant nests share common characteristics, they exhibit a high structural variability, of which morphogenesis and underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. We conducted two-dimensional nest-digging experiments under homogeneous laboratory conditions to investigate the shape diversity that emerges only from digging dynamics and without the influence of any environmental heterogeneity. These experiments revealed that, during the excavation, a morphological transition occurs because the primary circular cavity evolves into a ramified structure through a branching process. Such a transition is observed, whatever the number of ants involved, but occurs more frequently for a larger number of workers. A stochastic model highlights the central role of density effects in shape transition. These results indicate that nest digging shares similar properties with various physical, chemical, and biological systems. Moreover, our model of morphogenesis provides an explanatory framework for shape transitions in decentralized growing structures in group-living animals.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0902685106