SELF-ORGANIZING NEST CONSTRUCTION IN ANTS - SOPHISTICATED BUILDING BY BLIND BULLDOZING

The pattern and process of building in an ant, Leptothorax (Myrafant) tubero-interruptus (F.), is described. This species naturally uses flat crevices in rock, so they do not have to construct the roof and floor of their nests. The ants simply build a perimeter wall around their colony. Such building is essentially two-dimensional and facilitates laboratory experimentation and statistical analysis. The ants apparently use very simple rules both to make their nest an appropriate size for their colony and to co-ordinate their building activities. A computer-simulation model of such building shows how the ants could use a simple self-organizing procedure based largely on bulldozing. Each builder, by pushing its building block into others, adds its work to existing structures. Building workers do not communicate directly but can communicate efficiently via the products of their successful labours. © 1992.