A spatiotemporal analysis of the food dissemination process and the trophallactic network in the ant Lasius niger.

ABSTRACT: Intranidal food dissemination through trophallactic exchanges is a fundamental issue in social insect colonies but its underlying mechanisms are far from being clear. In light of the division of work, network theory and collective food management we develop a framework to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of the trophallactic network in starved Lasius niger ant colonies. Thanks to tracking methods we are able to record spatial locations of the trophallactic interactions in the nest. We highlight quantitative differences between the foragers and non-foragers concerning their contributions, their roles (donor/recipient) and their spatial distributions. Moreover, at the intracaste level, we show interindividual differences in all activities and we characterise their nature. In particula

SUBMITTER: Planckaert J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6821819 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature