scholarly journals The nest architecture of the Florida harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex badius

2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (21) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter R. Tschinkel
Keyword(s):  
Nest Architecture ◽  
Harvester Ant ◽  
Pogonomyrmex Badius

scholarly journals Sequential Subterranean Transport of Excavated Sand and Foraged Seeds in Nests of the Harvester Ant, Pogonomyrmex badius

PLoS ONE ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e0139922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter R. Tschinkel ◽  
William J. Rink ◽  
Christina L. Kwapich
Keyword(s):  
Harvester Ant ◽  
Pogonomyrmex Badius

scholarly journals Nest architecture shapes the collective behaviour of harvester ants

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 20150695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noa Pinter-Wollman
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
Collective Behaviour ◽  
Nest Architecture ◽  
Harvester Ants ◽  
Spatial Constraints ◽  
Ant Colonies ◽  
Harvester Ant

Structures influence how individuals interact and, therefore, shape the collective behaviours that emerge from these interactions. Here I show that the structure of a nest influences the collective behaviour of harvester ant colonies. Using network analysis, I quantify nest architecture and find that as chamber connectivity and redundancy of connections among chambers increase, so does a colony's speed of recruitment to food. Interestingly, the volume of the chambers did not influence speed of recruitment, suggesting that the spatial organization of a nest has a greater impact on collective behaviour than the number of workers it can hold. Thus, by changing spatial constraints on social interactions organisms can modify their behaviour and impact their fitness.

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