Record dynamics in ants.

The success of social animals (including ourselves) can be attributed to efficiencies that arise from a division of labour. Many animal societies have a communal nest which certain individuals must leave to perform external tasks, for example foraging or patrolling. Staying at home to care for young...

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Autores principales:	Thomas O Richardson, Elva J H Robinson, Kim Christensen, Henrik J Jensen, Nigel R Franks, Ana B Sendova-Franks
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2010
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b2c6be0ce3a543668474c40deead4457
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b2c6be0ce3a543668474c40deead44572021-11-25T06:25:31ZRecord dynamics in ants.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0009621https://doaj.org/article/b2c6be0ce3a543668474c40deead44572010-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/20300174/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203The success of social animals (including ourselves) can be attributed to efficiencies that arise from a division of labour. Many animal societies have a communal nest which certain individuals must leave to perform external tasks, for example foraging or patrolling. Staying at home to care for young or leaving to find food is one of the most fundamental divisions of labour. It is also often a choice between safety and danger. Here we explore the regulation of departures from ant nests. We consider the extreme situation in which no one returns and show experimentally that exiting decisions seem to be governed by fluctuating record signals and ant-ant interactions. A record signal is a new 'high water mark' in the history of a system. An ant exiting the nest only when the record signal reaches a level it has never perceived before could be a very effective mechanism to postpone, until the last possible moment, a potentially fatal decision. We also show that record dynamics may be involved in first exits by individually tagged ants even when their nest mates are allowed to re-enter the nest. So record dynamics may play a role in allocating individuals to tasks, both in emergencies and in everyday life. The dynamics of several complex but purely physical systems are also based on record signals but this is the first time they have been experimentally shown in a biological system.Thomas O RichardsonElva J H RobinsonKim ChristensenHenrik J JensenNigel R FranksAna B Sendova-FranksPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 5, Iss 3, p e9621 (2010)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Thomas O Richardson Elva J H Robinson Kim Christensen Henrik J Jensen Nigel R Franks Ana B Sendova-Franks Record dynamics in ants.
description	The success of social animals (including ourselves) can be attributed to efficiencies that arise from a division of labour. Many animal societies have a communal nest which certain individuals must leave to perform external tasks, for example foraging or patrolling. Staying at home to care for young or leaving to find food is one of the most fundamental divisions of labour. It is also often a choice between safety and danger. Here we explore the regulation of departures from ant nests. We consider the extreme situation in which no one returns and show experimentally that exiting decisions seem to be governed by fluctuating record signals and ant-ant interactions. A record signal is a new 'high water mark' in the history of a system. An ant exiting the nest only when the record signal reaches a level it has never perceived before could be a very effective mechanism to postpone, until the last possible moment, a potentially fatal decision. We also show that record dynamics may be involved in first exits by individually tagged ants even when their nest mates are allowed to re-enter the nest. So record dynamics may play a role in allocating individuals to tasks, both in emergencies and in everyday life. The dynamics of several complex but purely physical systems are also based on record signals but this is the first time they have been experimentally shown in a biological system.
format	article
author	Thomas O Richardson Elva J H Robinson Kim Christensen Henrik J Jensen Nigel R Franks Ana B Sendova-Franks
author_facet	Thomas O Richardson Elva J H Robinson Kim Christensen Henrik J Jensen Nigel R Franks Ana B Sendova-Franks
author_sort	Thomas O Richardson
title	Record dynamics in ants.
title_short	Record dynamics in ants.
title_full	Record dynamics in ants.
title_fullStr	Record dynamics in ants.
title_full_unstemmed	Record dynamics in ants.
title_sort	record dynamics in ants.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2010
url	https://doaj.org/article/b2c6be0ce3a543668474c40deead4457
work_keys_str_mv	AT thomasorichardson recorddynamicsinants AT elvajhrobinson recorddynamicsinants AT kimchristensen recorddynamicsinants AT henrikjjensen recorddynamicsinants AT nigelrfranks recorddynamicsinants AT anabsendovafranks recorddynamicsinants
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Record dynamics in ants.

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