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10.25100/socolen.v47i2.11046
Submitted: 26-02-2021
Published: 22-07-2021

How to deal with the disadvantages of living in dense societies: traffic rules in leaf-cutting ants

Universidad Nacional del Comahue
Keywords: Atta, Acromyrmex, collective decisions, extended phenotype, foraging, self-organization, traffic rules

How to Cite

1.
Farji-Brener AG. How to deal with the disadvantages of living in dense societies: traffic rules in leaf-cutting ants. Rev. Colomb. Entomol. [Internet]. 2021 Jul. 22 [cited 2026 Oct. 18];47(2). Available from: https://revistacolombianaentomologia.univalle.edu.co/index.php/SOCOLEN/article/view/11046
Una abeja doméstica, Apis mellifera L., 1758 (Hymenoptera: Apidae) visitando una flor de maracuyá amarillo Passiflora edulis fo. flavicarpa O. Deg. (Passifloraceae). Foto cortesía de Takumasa Kondo.
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Abstract

Transporting food from production centers to consumption centers is a challenge for densely populated societies. To avoid delays, the trail system must be efficient and the behavior of the transporters must reduce the probability of collisions. This work, describes how Leaf-Cutting Ants (LCA) solve these dilemmas by optimizing their trail design and performing behaviors that avoid bottlenecks and delays. On the one hand, the LCA build trails wide
enough to avoid traffic jams at times of peak foraging activity. Also, at the bifurcation points, the sum of the branching trail widths is always higher than the width of the precedent trunk
trail. Finally, LCA builds their branching trails with angles that reduce the maintenance cost of the new trail sector or of the total trail length, depending on which factor is more limiting. On the other hand, LCA shows a range of behaviors that avoid delays: minima workers can travel on the leaf fragments thereby reducing flux density, unloaded workers remove obstacles from the trail, ants carry extra-large loads mainly during situations of low traffic, ants maintain their lane when turning, and foragers show priority rules during jam situations. These examples illustrate how ants, using simple behavioral rules that arise from positive interactions among individuals, can solve complex problems such as traffic regulation.

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How to Cite

1.
Farji-Brener AG. How to deal with the disadvantages of living in dense societies: traffic rules in leaf-cutting ants. Rev. Colomb. Entomol. [Internet]. 2021 Jul. 22 [cited 2026 Oct. 18];47(2). Available from: https://revistacolombianaentomologia.univalle.edu.co/index.php/SOCOLEN/article/view/11046
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Copyright (c) 2021 Alejandro G. Farji-Brener