Paper Info
Title
Simulating the Evolution of Ant Behaviour in Evaluating Nest Sites
Abstract
When an ant colony needs to find a new nest, scouts are sent out to evaluate the suitability of potential sites, particularly their size. It has been suggested that ant scouts of Leptothorax albipennis use a simple heuristic known as Buffon's needle to evaluate nest size. They do this in two stages: first laying a pheromone trail in the nest site, then, after a return to the old nest, coming back and wandering within the site assessing frequency of intersection with the pheromone trail ("two-pass" strategy). If a colony is forced to relocate from its current nest due to destruction of that nest, the time required to find a suitable new nest may be crucial. This paper details preliminary results from a computer simulation model of evaluation of nest size. The model aims to study why a "two-pass" strategy is used by ants when a "one-pass" strategy, in which the ant simultaneously lays pheromone and assesses the frequency at which it encounters its own trail, may be more time efficient. Analysis of the results indicates no clear advantage for the "two-pass" strategy, given the assumptions of the model. Possible implications of this result are discussed.
Year
DOI
Venue
2003
10.1007/978-3-540-39432-7_69
ADVANCES IN ARTIFICIAL LIFE, PROCEEDINGS
Keywords
Field
DocType
ant colony,computer simulation
ANT,Heuristic,Computer science,Pheromone,Artificial intelligence,Leptothorax,Nest,Ant colony,Formicoidea,Machine learning,Aculeata
Conference
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
2801
0302-9743
4
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.52
2
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
James A. R. Marshall112118.04
Tim Kovacs230626.84
Anna Dornhaus3172.83
Nigel R. Franks4182.33