Meeting Abstract

P2.40  Wednesday, Jan. 5  Mapping Social Networks in House-hunting ants SHAFFER, ZS*; PRATT, S; SASAKI, T; Arizona State University; Arizona State University; Arizona State University zshaffe@asu.edu

Mapping Social Networks in House-Hunting ants Network analysis is a promising tool for insight into the collective behavior of social insects. How does a network structure emerge from individual behavior, and how does it contribute to the solution of a colony–level challenge? House-hunting by ants in the genus Temnothorax is a leading model of collective behavior that is well suited to network analysis. Nest site selection is of clear adaptive significance to the colony, and the entire process is readily viewable in a laboratory setting. Furthermore, each individual can be paint-marked and tracked, and each pairwise interaction can be observed. We videorecorded repeated migrations by paint-marked colonies of Temnothorax rugatulus, paying particular attention to the recruitment communication that organizes the emigration. We then described each emigration as a network with nodes consisting of individual ants and edges marking recruitment of one ant by another. Preliminary analysis shows elements typical of small world networks. Motif analysis further suggests intriguing structural similarities between house-hunting and gene transcription pathways, possibly reflecting their common information-processing role. Comparing multiple emigrations by the same colony reveals highly connected individuals that consistently perform the bulk of recruitment. Further analysis will focus on the network’s robustness to removal of these key ants. This study marks the initial steps in applying a potentially powerful tool for understanding complex collective behavior.