How do ants carry food?
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How Ants Carry Food: Mechanisms and Strategies
Cooperative Food Transport in Ants
Collective Transport in Pheidole oxyops
Ants often engage in cooperative transport to move large food items back to their nests. In the Neotropical ant Pheidole oxyops, minor workers collectively transport larger dead insects, with 29% of items and 78% of the total mass being transported collectively. The ants exhibit a non-random configuration, with more ants positioned at the corners of the food item, which increases carrying speed by up to 29%1.
Load Transport in Messor barbarus
The seed-harvesting ant Messor barbarus uses two primary methods to transport food: carrying and dragging. The choice between these methods depends on the mass and linear dimensions of the food item. Larger ants tend to drag heavier items, while smaller ants are more efficient in terms of relative transport rate, making them more beneficial for the colony's food transport tasks3.
Overcoming Obstacles
When ants encounter obstacles during cooperative transport, they exhibit bi-stable dynamics, alternating between oscillatory and convergent modes of motion. This behavior helps them navigate around obstacles, demonstrating an emergent problem-solving strategy at the group level6 10.
Individual and Sequential Food Transport
Trail Development and Food Quantity
Ants may develop a trail tract between the food source and the nest depending on the quantity of food available. For instance, species like Pheidole roberti and Monomorium pharaonis are more likely to create a trail when the number of food particles exceeds a certain threshold, facilitating efficient transport4.
Load-Size Selection Based on Food Quality
In leaf-cutting ants like Acromyrmex lundi, the size of the load selected by recruited workers is influenced by the quality of the food. Workers recruited to higher quality food sources (e.g., higher sugar concentration) tend to cut smaller fragments and exhibit faster transport speeds, although this does not necessarily translate to higher individual efficiency5.
Nutritional Strategies and Food Sharing
Nutritional Challenges and Foraging Behavior
Ant colonies, such as those of Odontomachus hastatus, adjust their foraging behavior and energy storage strategies in response to nutritional challenges. They regulate the amount of food entering the nest and allocate workers to different tasks based on the colony's nutritional needs, demonstrating a flexible and adaptive approach to food collection7 9.
Liquid Foraging and Biophysical Constraints
Foraging for liquid food presents unique challenges. Some ants, like those in the genus Diacamma, use different methods to transport liquid based on its viscosity. They may switch from drinking to mandibular grabbing to optimize the amount of liquid food returned to the nest, highlighting their ability to adapt to varying conditions8.
Conclusion
Ants employ a variety of strategies to transport food, ranging from cooperative efforts to individual and sequential methods. Their ability to adapt to different food types, quantities, and environmental challenges underscores their efficiency and resilience as foragers. These behaviors not only ensure the survival of the colony but also illustrate the complex and dynamic nature of ant foraging strategies.
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Most relevant research papers on this topic
Cooperative food transport in the Neotropical ant, Pheidole oxyops
Collective food transport in Neotropical ants, Pheidole oxyops, is common and efficient, with ants preferentially transporting food items from the front and back, increasing speed by up to 29%.
Feeding and Stocking Up: Radio-Labelled Food Reveals Exchange Patterns in Ants
Ant colonies efficiently share food, rapidly feed all workers, and build up food stocks, while managing to feed and stock up in changing environments.
Non-RCT
Animal StudyErgonomics of load transport in the seed harvesting ant Messor barbarus: morphology influences transportation method and efficiency
Ant load transportation efficiency depends on their morphology and the method they use, with small ants having a higher relative transport rate than large ants, suggesting a greater benefit for colonies in investing in small ants for food item transport.
Observational Study
Rigorous JournalCue for ant's trail development
Ants develop a trail tract to carry food to the nest when there are more than 70 food particles, but not when there are less than 70 food particles.
Information about food quality influences load-size selection in recruited leaf-cutting ants
Information about food quality influences load-size selection and velocity in leaf-cutting ants, with more concentrated sugar solutions leading to smaller fragments and less efficient carriers.
Highly CitedBi-stability in cooperative transport by ants in the presence of obstacles
Ants can overcome obstacles by oscillating along the obstacle or convergent near the opening, offering two possible problem-solving strategies.
Responses to nutritional challenges in ant colonies
Ants can regulate intake and minimize mortality by choosing complementary diets, adjusting foraging behavior, and using an energy-saving strategy to overcome nutritional challenges.
Very Rigorous JournalDiacamma ants adjust liquid foraging strategies in response to biophysical constraints
Ants optimize their liquid-collection strategies based on viscosity, maximizing sugar concentration per trip, rather than sweetness.
Communal Nutrition in Ants
Ants adjust their feeding behavior and nutrient processing to maintain a balanced diet for the colony, with larvae playing a crucial role in regulating food collection and nutrient processing.
Highly CitedThe physics of cooperative transport in groups of ants
Ants cooperatively transporting large food items can circumvent obstacles by switching to a deterministic collective oscillatory mode, without individual behavioral changes.
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