Abstract
One of the most striking features of an ant colony’s behaviour is its capacity for the spatial organisation of foraging activity. The use of trail pheromone to guide fellow workers in the nest to a large food source or rich foraging zone has been extensively studied (e. g. Wilson 1971) and obviously contributes to foraging efficiency. We have recently, however, been able to show that trail laying and trail following behaviour are more than just a means of communicating a food source’s location. When more than one trail is present at a time, the interactions between foragers and the trails can lead to the collective selection of the shortest path or the best food source, despite the fact that individual foragers have no means of making such choices.
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Goss, S., Beckers, R., Deneubourg, J.L., Aron, S., Pasteels, J.M. (1990). How Trail Laying and Trail Following Can Solve Foraging Problems for Ant Colonies. In: Hughes, R.N. (eds) Behavioural Mechanisms of Food Selection. NATO ASI Series, vol 20. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75118-9_32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-75118-9_32
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