Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Trail geometry gives polarity to ant foraging networks

Abstract

Pheromone trails are used by many ants to guide foragers between nest and food1,2,3,4. But how does a forager that has become displaced from a trail know which way to go on rejoining the trail? A laden forager, for example, should walk towards the nest. Polarized trails would enable ants to choose the appropriate direction, thereby saving time and reducing predation risk. However, previous research has found no evidence that ants can detect polarity from the pheromone trail alone3,5,6,7. Pharaoh's ants (Monomorium pharaonis) produce elaborate trail networks throughout their foraging environment8. Here we show that by using information from the geometry of trail bifurcations within this network, foragers joining a trail can adaptively reorientate themselves if they initially walk in the wrong direction. The frequency of correct reorientations is maximized when the trail bifurcation angle is approximately 60 degrees, as found in natural networks. These are the first data to demonstrate how ant trails can themselves provide polarity information. They also demonstrate previously unsuspected sophistication in the organization and information content of networks in insect societies.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Pheromone trail networks of Pharaoh's ants on a smoked glass surface.
Figure 3: Outcomes of individual trail following tests using straight (0°) and bifurcating (30–120°) trail sections.
Figure 2: Experimental set-up used to form straight trails and assembly of trail bifurcations.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Schöne, H. Spatial Orientation (Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, 1984)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Camazine, S. et al. Self-organisation in Biological Systems 217–255 (Princeton Univ. Press, New Jersey, 2001)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Carthy, J. D. The orientation of two allied species of British ant. II. Odour trail laying and following in Acanthomyops (Lasius) fuliginosus. Behaviour 3, 304–318 (1951)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Hölldobler, B. & Wilson, E. O. The Ants (Belknap Press, Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1990)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Carthy, J. D. Odour trails of Acanthomyops fuliginosus. Nature 166, 154 (1950)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Sudd, J. H. An Introduction to the Behaviour of Ants Ch. 6 (Edward Arnold, London, 1967)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Wilson, E. O. Chemical communication among workers of the fire ant, Solenopsis saevissima. I. The organisation of mass foraging. Anim. Behav. 10, 134–164 (1962)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Sudd, J. H. The foraging method of Pharaoh's ant, Monomorium pharaonis (L.). Anim. Behav. 8, 67–75 (1960)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Banks, A. N. & Syrgley, R. B. Orientation by magnetic field in leaf-cutter ants, Atta colombica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Ethology 109, 835–846 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Carthy, J. D. The orientation of two allied species of British ant. I. Visual direction finding in Acanthomyops (Lasius) niger. Behaviour 3, 275–303 (1951)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Aron, S., Beckers, R., Deneubourg, J. & Pasteels, J. M. Memory and chemical communication in the orientation of two mass-recruiting ant species. Insectes Soc. 40, 369–380 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Fowler, H. G. Foraging trails of leaf-cutting ants. Proc. NY Entomol. Soc. 86, 132–136 (1978)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Holldobler, B. Home range orientation and territoriality in harvester ants. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 71, 3274–3277 (1974)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Quinet, Y. & Pasteels, J. M. Spatiotemporal evolution of the trail network in Lasius fuliginosus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Belg. J. Zool. 121, 55–72 (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Rettenmeyer, C. W. Behavioral studies of army ants. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 44, 281–465 (1963)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Acosta, F. J., Lopez, F. & Serrano, J. M. Branching angles of ant trunk trails as an optimization cue. J. Theor. Biol. 160, 297–310 (1993)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Fourcassié, V. & Deneubourg, J. L. The dynamics of collective exploration and trail-formation in Monomorium pharaonis: experiments and model. Physiol. Entomol. 19, 291–300 (1994)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Feynman, R. Surely You Are Joking, Mr Feynman? (Norton, New York, 1985)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Barker, S. B., Cumming, G. & Horsfield, K. Quantitative morphometry of the branching structure of trees. J. Theor. Biol. 40, 33–43 (1973)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Leopold, L. B. Trees and streams: the efficiency of branching patterns. J. Theor. Biol. 31, 339–354 (1971)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Thompson, D. W. On Growth and Form (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 1917)

    Google Scholar 

  22. West, G. B., Brown, J. H. & Enquist, B. J. A general model for the origin of allometric scaling laws in biology. Science 276, 122–126 (1997)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. West, G. B., Brown, J. H. & Enquist, B. J. A general model for the structure and allometry of plant vascular systems. Nature 400, 664–667 (1999)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Dussutour, A., Fourcassié, V., Helbing, D. & Deneubourg, J. Optimal traffic organization in ants under crowded conditions. Nature 428, 70–73 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Tennant, L. E. & Porter, S. D. Comparison of diets of two fire ant species: solid and liquid components. J. Entomol. Sci. 26, 450–465 (1991)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Jeanson, R., Ratnieks, F. L. W. & Deneubourg, J. L. Pheromone trail decay rates on different substrates in the Pharaoh's ant, Monomorium pharaonis. Physiol. Entomol. 28, 192–198 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank K. Boomsma, A. Bourke, V. Fourcassié, A. Hart, L. Keller, S. Martin and G. Theraulaz for discussions and comments on the manuscript. We also thank P. Mitchell for statistical advice. This work was funded by the EPSRC and British Telecom.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Duncan E. Jackson.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

This table shows reorientation results for fed and unfed foragers when placed at the ends of a Y-shaped pheromone trail (angle 30-120 degrees) representing a bifurcating foraging trail leading from the nest or a straight trail. (DOC 90 kb)

Supplementary Table Legend

Additional information to accompany the above Supplementary Table. (DOC 20 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jackson, D., Holcombe, M. & Ratnieks, F. Trail geometry gives polarity to ant foraging networks. Nature 432, 907–909 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03105

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03105

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing