Title
Self-Organized Linear and Helicoidal Ramps in Insect Nests
Abstract
The nests built by termites of the genus Apicotermes present a regular succession of floors interconnected by vertical passages. By scanning these nests with X-ray tomography we observed that two different configurations of vertical passages coexist: ramps and helices. Based on our current knowledge of the mechanisms of nest building behaviour in different groups of social insects we formulate hypotheses about the mechanisms that could lead to the formation of these structures. In particular, we show that a 3D model of nest building in Lasius niger ants (Khuong et al, 2016) is capable of producing layered structures with vertical helices similar to the structures built by Apicotermes by simply running it with parameters different from those empirically measured for ants. It is possible that similar self-organised building mechanisms underlie the construction of the different nest structures produced by different groups of social insects.
Year
DOI
Venue
2016
10.1109/FAS-W.2016.42
2016 IEEE 1st International Workshops on Foundations and Applications of Self* Systems (FAS*W)
Keywords
Field
DocType
organization,social insect nests,termites,stigmergy,helicoidal structures
Ecology,Biology,Insect,Lasius,Ecological succession,Helix,Nest,Stigmergy
Conference
ISBN
Citations 
PageRank 
978-1-5090-3652-3
0
0.34
References 
Authors
2
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Li-Jie Guo1182.46
Guy Theraulaz22186223.72
Christian Jost300.34
Andrea Perna400.34