Spatial patterns in ant colonies
Open accessAbstract
The origins of large-scale spatial patterns in biology have been an important source of theoretical speculation since the pioneering work by Turing (1952) on the chemical basis of morphogenesis. Knowing how these patterns emerge and their functional role is important to our understanding of the evolution of biocomplexity and the role played by self organization. However, so far, conclusive evidence for local activation–long-range inhibition mechanisms in real biological systems has been elusive. Here a well-defined experimental and theoretical analysis of the pattern formation dynamics exhibited by clustering behavior in ant colonies is presented. These experiments and a simple mathematical model show that these colonies do indeed use this type of mechanism. All microscopic variables have been measured and provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, for this type of self-organized behavior in complex biological systems, supporting early conjectures about its role in the organization of insect societies.
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The basic McCulloch-Pitts design is common to many other living systems, including gene regulatory networks, immune networks, collective intelligence or some aneural systems, such as quorum-sensing decisions in microbial communities.
“Interestingly, the basic McCulloch–Pitts design is common to many other living systems, including gene regulatory networks [256–259], immune networks [260–262], collective intelligence [263–267] or some aneural systems, such as quorum-sensing decisions in microbial communities, where an explicit equivalence has been defined [268].”
From Fundamental constraints to the logic of living systems (2024) · cites this paper as [265]
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Corne, D. W., Reynolds, A., & Bonabeau, E. (2012) · Handbook of Natural Computing · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-92910-9_48 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Self-citationFundamental constraints to the logic of living systems
Solé, R., Kempes, C. P., Corominas-Murtra, B., De Domenico, M., Kolchinsky, A., Lachmann, M., Libby, E., Saavedra, S., Smith, E., & Wolpert, D. (2024) · Interface Focus · doi:10.1098/rsfs.2024.0010 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Self-citationSynthetic Turing protocells: vesicle self-reproduction through symmetry-breaking instabilities
Macía, J., & Solé, R. V. (2007) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2074 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Self-citationHow individual interactions control aggregation patterns in gregarious arthropods
Gautrais, J., Jost, C., Jeanson, R., & Theraulaz, G. (2004) · Interaction Studies. Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems · doi:10.1075/is.5.2.05gau · Cited by 12 · see citing works
- Authors
- Theraulaz, G., Bonabeau, E., Nicolis, S. C., Solé, R. V., Fourcassié, V., Blanco, S., Fournier, R., Joly, J.-L., Fernández, P., Grimal, A., Dalle, P., & Deneubourg, J.-L.
- Affiliations
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie et Cognition Animale, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Formation de Recherche en Evolution 2382, Equipe Traitement et Compréhension d'Images, IRIT, and Laboratoire d'Energétique, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cédex 4, France; Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501; Eurobios, 9 Rue de Grenelle, 75007 Paris, France; Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, CP 231, Université Libre de Bruxelles,...
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2002-07-11
- Volume
- 99
- Issue
- 15
- Pages
- 9645-9649
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC124961
- OpenAlex
- W2125534966
- Cited by
- 227
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 4.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Dépôt institutionnel de l'Université libre de Bruxelles (Université Libre de Bruxelles) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Statistical and Nonlinear Physics › Complex Systems and Dynamics
- Keywords
- ant colonies, spatial patterns, pattern formation, self-organization, clustering behavior, social insects, morphogenesis, collective behavior
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Ants, Kinetics, Morphogenesis, Population Density, Social Behavior, Time Factors
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