Submission + - Ants form living pothole plugs
mikesd81 writes: "Bristol University has an article about army ants ( Eciton burchellii ) lead the way in highway maintenance. From the article: "Certain army ants in the rainforests of Central and South America conduct spectacular predatory raids containing up to 200,000 foraging ants. Remarkably, some ants use their bodies to plug potholes in the trail leading back to the nest, making a flatter surface so that prey can be delivered to the developing young at maximum speed."
The raid always remains connected to the nest by a trail of forager traffic, along which prey-laden foragers run back to the nest which the path can be full of "pot holes". The study, by Dr Scott Powell and Professor Nigel Franks at the University of Bristol, and reported in the June issue of Animal Behaviour, shows that these living 'plugs' improve the quality of the surface. Their experiments showed that individuals size-match to the hole they plug and cooperate to plug larger holes. "We did this by getting the ants to literally 'walk the plank', said Powell. "We inserted planks drilled with different sizes of hole into the army ants' trails to see how well different sizes of ant matched different sizes of pot hole. Indeed, they fit beautifully", explained Franks. This study provides rare quantitative evidence from animal societies that extreme specialisation by a minority can significantly improve the performance of a majority to benefit the group as a whole."
The raid always remains connected to the nest by a trail of forager traffic, along which prey-laden foragers run back to the nest which the path can be full of "pot holes". The study, by Dr Scott Powell and Professor Nigel Franks at the University of Bristol, and reported in the June issue of Animal Behaviour, shows that these living 'plugs' improve the quality of the surface. Their experiments showed that individuals size-match to the hole they plug and cooperate to plug larger holes. "We did this by getting the ants to literally 'walk the plank', said Powell. "We inserted planks drilled with different sizes of hole into the army ants' trails to see how well different sizes of ant matched different sizes of pot hole. Indeed, they fit beautifully", explained Franks. This study provides rare quantitative evidence from animal societies that extreme specialisation by a minority can significantly improve the performance of a majority to benefit the group as a whole."
