Emergent oscillations assist obstacle negotiation during ant cooperative transport.

ABSTRACT: Collective motion by animal groups is affected by internal interactions, external constraints, and the influx of information. A quantitative understanding of how these different factors give rise to different modes of collective motion is, at present, lacking. Here, we study how ants that cooperatively transport a large food item react to an obstacle blocking their path. Combining experiments with a statistical physics model of mechanically coupled active agents, we show that the constraint induces a deterministic collective oscillatory mode that facilitates obstacle circumvention. We provide direct experimental evidence, backed by theory, that this motion is an emergent group effect that does not require any behavioral changes at the individual level. We trace these relaxation oscillation

SUBMITTER: Gelblum A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5187715 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature