A study by Scientists from France, Belgium and Germany published their results on ant behaviour after studying Lasius niger. Ants, it would seem, hate congestion as much as motorists and will use alternative routes to avoid it. The researchers analysed recordings in an experiment on collective movement.
In studies, L. niger will push and shove each other out of the way when it gets too crowded, forcing some to find another route from a food source back to the nest.
"Ants are able to find a solution when they are faced with congestion on trails," said Dr Vincent FourcassiÉ, a biologist at the Centre for Cognitive Animal Research in Toulouse, France. Using a mathematical model, they explained how the individual behaviour of the ants affected their collective movement and group behaviour.
Foraging L. niger prefer to carry food along a favourite trail that is marked with scent clues. In the experiment, the ants had to cross a diamond-shaped bridge between their nest and sugary food. If the two branches of the bridge were quite wide, traffic on the preferred route was much heavier.
But when the branches were narrowed and the ants encountered a bottleneck getting to the favourite route, congestion on both branches was more equal because ants chose the alternative route. Pushing seemed to be the favourite way to maintain a steady flow of food back to the nest.
Tags: Lasius | niger | Keeping Ants | Behaviour
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