PMID- 17673960
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20080123
LR  - 20181113
IS  - 0028-1042 (Print)
IS  - 1432-1904 (Electronic)
IS  - 0028-1042 (Linking)
VI  - 94
IP  - 11
DP  - 2007 Nov
TI  - Why do house-hunting ants recruit in both directions?
PG  - 911-8
AB  - To perform tasks, organisms often use multiple procedures. Explaining the breadth 
      of such behavioural repertoires is not always straightforward. During house 
      hunting, colonies of Temnothorax albipennis ants use a range of behaviours to 
      organise their emigrations. In particular, the ants use tandem running to recruit 
      naive ants to potential nest sites. Initially, they use forward tandem runs 
      (FTRs) in which one leader takes a single follower along the route from the old 
      nest to the new one. Later, they use reverse tandem runs (RTRs) in the opposite 
      direction. Tandem runs are used to teach active ants the route between the nests, 
      so that they can be involved quickly in nest evaluation and subsequent 
      recruitment. When a quorum of decision-makers at the new nest is reached, they 
      switch to carrying nestmates. This is three times faster than tandem running. As 
      a rule, having more FTRs early should thus mean faster emigrations, thereby 
      reducing the colony's vulnerability. So why do ants use RTRs, which are both slow 
      and late? It would seem quicker and simpler for the ants to use more FTRs (and 
      higher quorums) to have enough knowledgeable ants to do all the carrying. In this 
      study, we present the first testable theoretical explanation for the role of 
      RTRs. We set out to find the theoretically fastest emigration strategy for a set 
      of emigration conditions. We conclude that RTRs can have a positive effect on 
      emigration speed if FTRs are limited. In these cases, low quorums together with 
      lots of reverse tandem running give the fastest emigration.
FAU - Planque, R
AU  - Planque R
AD  - Department of Mathematics, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081a, 1081 HV, 
      Amsterdam, The Netherlands. rplanque@few.vu.nl
FAU - Dechaume-Moncharmont, F-X
AU  - Dechaume-Moncharmont FX
FAU - Franks, N R
AU  - Franks NR
FAU - Kovacs, T
AU  - Kovacs T
FAU - Marshall, J A R
AU  - Marshall JA
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20070803
PL  - Germany
TA  - Naturwissenschaften
JT  - Die Naturwissenschaften
JID - 0400767
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Ants/*physiology
MH  - *Behavior, Animal
MH  - Decision Making
MH  - Ecosystem
MH  - Models, Theoretical
MH  - Nesting Behavior/*physiology
MH  - Population Density
MH  - Social Behavior
PMC - PMC2039849
EDAT- 2007/08/04 09:00
MHDA- 2008/01/24 09:00
PMCR- 2007/10/20
CRDT- 2007/08/04 09:00
PHST- 2007/02/12 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2007/05/20 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2007/03/21 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2007/08/04 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2008/01/24 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2007/08/04 09:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2007/10/20 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 273 [pii]
AID - 10.1007/s00114-007-0273-8 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Naturwissenschaften. 2007 Nov;94(11):911-8. doi: 10.1007/s00114-007-0273-8. Epub 
      2007 Aug 3.