Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Aug 14;8(8):e70888. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0070888. eCollection 2013.
Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) live in groups of nests connected by trails to each other and to stable food sources. In a field study, we investigated whether some ants recruit directly from established, persistent trails to food sources, thus accelerating food collection. Our results indicate that Argentine ants recruit nestmates to food directly from persistent trails, and that the exponential increase in the arrival rate of ants at baits is faster than would be possible if recruited ants traveled from distant nests. Once ants find a new food source, they walk back and forth between the bait and sometimes share food by trophallaxis with nestmates on the trail. Recruiting ants from nearby persistent trails creates a dynamic circuit, like those found in other distributed systems, which facilitates a quick response to changes in available resources.
阿根廷蚂蚁（Linepithema humile）生活在由路径相互连接的巢穴群体中，这些路径还连接着稳定的食物源。在一项实地研究中，我们调查了蚂蚁是否会直接从已建立的、持续存在的路径中招募同伴到食物源，从而加速食物的收集。我们的结果表明，阿根廷蚂蚁会直接从持续存在的路径中招募巢友到食物源，而且蚂蚁到达诱饵的速度呈指数级增长，这比如果招募的蚂蚁从遥远的巢穴中赶来要快得多。一旦蚂蚁找到了新的食物源，它们就会在诱饵和有时在路径上与巢友之间来回走动，并通过食物交换来分享食物。从附近的持续路径中招募蚂蚁会形成一个动态回路，就像在其他分布式系统中发现的那样，这有助于对可用资源的变化做出快速反应。
