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Modelling the swarming behaviour of army ants Watmough, James
Abstract
A model of the collective motion of a group of social insects interacting through a trail network is developed around a set of simple rules. The model assumes that individuals interact with the existing trail network both by following the trails, and by adding to and reenforcing trails. The main hypothesis of the model is that the mechanics of the motion of the individuals are sufficient to determine the collective motion of the group, or equivalently, that the parameters governing the behaviour of the individuals are sufficient to determine the patterns of the trail networks produced. Both a simulation and a mathematical model are derived from this same set of rules. The mathematical model is derived for a single spatial dimension to study the propagation of the raiding column. The results are compared both to the swarming behaviour of army ants observed in the field, and to the results of simulations of other authors which were based on different assumptions. We conclude that it is possible that many aspects of the swarming pattern are controlled by the parameters governing the behaviour of the individual.
Item Metadata
| Title |
Modelling the swarming behaviour of army ants
|
| Creator | |
| Publisher |
University of British Columbia
|
| Date Issued |
1992
|
| Description |
A model of the collective motion of a group of social insects interacting through a trail network
is developed around a set of simple rules. The model assumes that individuals interact with
the existing trail network both by following the trails, and by adding to and reenforcing trails.
The main hypothesis of the model is that the mechanics of the motion of the individuals are
sufficient to determine the collective motion of the group, or equivalently, that the parameters
governing the behaviour of the individuals are sufficient to determine the patterns of the trail
networks produced. Both a simulation and a mathematical model are derived from this same
set of rules. The mathematical model is derived for a single spatial dimension to study the
propagation of the raiding column. The results are compared both to the swarming behaviour
of army ants observed in the field, and to the results of simulations of other authors which
were based on different assumptions. We conclude that it is possible that many aspects of the
swarming pattern are controlled by the parameters governing the behaviour of the individual.
|
| Extent |
1117440 bytes
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| Genre | |
| Type | |
| File Format |
application/pdf
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| Language |
eng
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| Date Available |
2008-12-16
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| Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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| Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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| DOI |
10.14288/1.0079673
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| URI | |
| Degree | |
| Program | |
| Affiliation | |
| Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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| Graduation Date |
1992-11
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| Campus | |
| Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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| Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
|
Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.