Optimal traffic organization in ants

Authors

Anthony G. Longjas National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines Diliman
Gerfel P. Guba National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines Diliman
Mark C. Nicolas National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines Diliman

Abstract

We investigated the regulation of traffic flow during mass recruitment of black garden ants (Lasius niger). Ants had to cross from the nest to the food source placed at the end of the diamond-shaped bridge. Nest bound and outbound ants were counted and aggregated over 3-minute intervals. We first investigated traffic organization in ants faced with two symmetric paths. We then varied the length of Path B to be 3 times, 2 times and 1.5 times longer than Path A. The effect of congestion was also investigated by changing the width of the bridge into half. For symmetric paths, ants adhered strongly to pheromone-based attraction. While for asymmetric paths, ants followed the shorter trail even in cases wherein the worker ants ventured into the longer path first. Moreover, the longer the Path B, the lesser number of ants venture in it. During congestion, rerouting to the other path is observed.

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Issue

2005: Proceedings of the 23rd Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas Physics Congress

Article ID

SPP-2005-PB-22

Section

Poster Session PB

Published

2005-10-26

How to Cite

[1]

AG Longjas, GP Guba, and MC Nicolas, Optimal traffic organization in ants, Proceedings of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas 23, SPP-2005-PB-22 (2005). URL: https://proceedings.spp-online.org/article/view/SPP-2005-PB-22.