Computer Image Analysis Provides New Observations of Ant Behaviour Patterns

We investigate computer image analysis to provide a new and objective measure of the spatial distribution of activity inside ant nests. The distribution of activity is dependent on the nest architecture, and changes when ants are allowed to construct their own nests. Nests show greatest activity aro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inProceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Vol. 257; no. 1350; pp. 279 - 286
Main Authors Stickland, T. R., Franks, Naphthali
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London The Royal Society 22.09.1994
Subjects
Ants
Image analysis
Insect behavior
Insect brood
Insect colonies
Insect larvae
Insect nests
Pupae
Social insects
Worker insects
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Summary:We investigate computer image analysis to provide a new and objective measure of the spatial distribution of activity inside ant nests. The distribution of activity is dependent on the nest architecture, and changes when ants are allowed to construct their own nests. Nests show greatest activity around the periphery of the brood pile, usually with one or few foci. The spatial distribution of behaviour may be important to the social structure of the colony. By analysing the spatial pattern around the brood on a finer scale, we show that larger brood items are located in areas of greater activity. This could support a simple behavioural algorithm for allocation of brood care.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/V84-DTC74CW8-8
istex:48B780CB23CD1A694DE71BCFFC213E9CC88D0ABA
This text was harvested from a scanned image of the original document using optical character recognition (OCR) software. As such, it may contain errors. Please contact the Royal Society if you find an error you would like to see corrected. Mathematical notations produced through Infty OCR.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.1994.0126