Sim Seungwoo, Lee Sang-Hee
Division of Fusion Convergence of Mathematical Sciences, National Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Daejeon, South Korea.
Insect Sci. 2013 Aug;20(4):550-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7917.2012.01517.x. Epub 2012 Jul 4.
Subterranean termites construct complex tunnel networks for foraging. During travel in the tunnels, termites often encounter one another when passing in opposite directions. Such encounters are likely to affect the "movement efficiency," which is the time required for a termite to travel a certain distance in a tunnel. In this study, we explored how individual-individual encounters affect movement efficiency in tunnels by measuring the time (τ) taken by two termites to pass one another in tunnels of different curvatures. Artificial tunnels of 5 cm in length and variable widths (W) of 2, 3, or 4 mm were made. Tunnel distance (D) was 2, 3, 4, or 5 cm. When D had a higher value, curvature was lower. When W = 2, τ was significantly shorter in the tunnel with D = 5 than in tunnels of D = 2, 3, or 4, whereas τ was statistically the same for D = 2, 3 and 4. When W = 3, τ was shorter in the tunnel with D = 5 than for D = 3 and 4, while τ was longer in the tunnel with D = 2 than for D = 3 and 4. When W = 4, τ was longer in the tunnels with D = 2 and 3 than for D = 4 and 5. Based on these observations, 3 types of termite behavior were identified: biased walking, backward walking, and zigzag walking. We considered these results in relation to foraging efficiency.
地下白蚁构建复杂的觅食隧道网络。在隧道中行进时，白蚁相向而行时经常会相互碰面。这种相遇很可能会影响“移动效率”，即白蚁在隧道中行进一定距离所需的时间。在本研究中，我们通过测量两只白蚁在不同曲率的隧道中相互通过所需的时间（τ），探究了个体间相遇如何影响隧道中的移动效率。制作了长度为5厘米、宽度（W）分别为2毫米、3毫米或4毫米的人工隧道。隧道距离（D）为2厘米、3厘米、4厘米或5厘米。当D值较高时，曲率较低。当W = 2时，在D = 5的隧道中τ明显短于D = 2、3或4的隧道，而D = 2、3和4时τ在统计学上相同。当W = 3时，D = 5的隧道中τ短于D = 3和4的情况，而D = 2的隧道中τ长于D = 3和4的情况。当W = 4时，D = 2和3的隧道中τ长于D = 4和5的情况。基于这些观察结果，识别出了3种白蚁行为类型：偏向行走、向后行走和曲折行走。我们结合觅食效率考虑了这些结果。
