Short-term activity cycles impede information transmission in ant colonies.

Details

Ressource 1Download: journal.pcbi.1005527.pdf (8933.69 [Ko])
State: Public
Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_C0B6C36439EA
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Short-term activity cycles impede information transmission in ant colonies.
Journal
PLoS computational biology
Author(s)
Richardson T.O., Liechti J.I., Stroeymeyt N., Bonhoeffer S., Keller L.
ISSN
1553-7358 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1553-734X
Publication state
Published
Issued date
05/2017
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
13
Number
5
Pages
e1005527
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: epublish
Abstract
Rhythmical activity patterns are ubiquitous in nature. We study an oscillatory biological system: collective activity cycles in ant colonies. Ant colonies have become model systems for research on biological networks because the interactions between the component parts are visible to the naked eye, and because the time-ordered contact network formed by these interactions serves as the substrate for the distribution of information and other resources throughout the colony. To understand how the collective activity cycles influence the contact network transport properties, we used an automated tracking system to record the movement of all the individuals within nine different ant colonies. From these trajectories we extracted over two million ant-to-ant interactions. Time-series analysis of the temporal fluctuations of the overall colony interaction and movement rates revealed that both the period and amplitude of the activity cycles exhibit a diurnal cycle, in which daytime cycles are faster and of greater amplitude than night cycles. Using epidemiology-derived models of transmission over networks, we compared the transmission properties of the observed periodic contact networks with those of synthetic aperiodic networks. These simulations revealed that contrary to some predictions, regularly-oscillating contact networks should impede information transmission. Further, we provide a mechanistic explanation for this effect, and present evidence in support of it.

Keywords
Activity Cycles/physiology, Animal Communication, Animals, Ants/physiology, Computational Biology, Models, Biological, Periodicity
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
16/05/2017 16:17
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:35
Usage data