Lee Sang-Hee, Park Cheol-Min
Division of Industrial Mathematics, National Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Daejeon, 34047, South Korea.
Heliyon. 2024 Mar 19;10(6):e28417. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e28417. eCollection 2024 Mar 30.
Subterranean termites construct a network of tunnels beneath the ground, comprising a main tunnel and branch tunnels. While termites do not construct tunnels that turn back in a "U" shape, the intersection of main and branch tunnels often forms closed curved structures (a loop). The loop structure can have either a positive or negative effect on the transport efficiency of termites in food transportation. However, little research has been conducted on the impact of loop tunnels on transport efficiency () due to the technical difficulties associated with direct observation. In this study, we used an individual-based model to simulate termite behavior during food transportation within a tunnel composed of a main tunnel and a loop tunnel. The model incorporates four control variables: the number of introduced simulated termites (), the probability of a simulated termite using a loop tunnel when walking towards a food or nest site ( or ), and the length of the loop tunnel (). The simulation results reveal that the value is high for (, ) = (high, high), (low, low), (high, low), and (low, high) when the length of the loop tunnel is relatively short. However, when the length of the loop tunnel is relatively long, is high only for (, ) = (high, low) and (low, high). We found that these results are primarily influenced by the frequency of traffic jams. Therefore, termites would benefit from adopting strategies that reduce the occurrence of traffic jams during food transportation. In the Discussion section, we briefly touch on the strategy from an ecological perspective.
地下白蚁在地下构建了一个隧道网络，包括一条主隧道和多条分支隧道。虽然白蚁不会构建呈“U”形折返的隧道，但主隧道和分支隧道的交叉处常常会形成封闭的弯曲结构（一个环）。这种环形结构在食物运输过程中对白蚁的运输效率可能产生积极或消极的影响。然而，由于直接观察存在技术困难，关于环形隧道对运输效率影响的研究很少。在本研究中，我们使用基于个体的模型来模拟白蚁在由一条主隧道和一条环形隧道组成的隧道内进行食物运输时的行为。该模型纳入了四个控制变量：引入的模拟白蚁数量（）、模拟白蚁在朝着食物或巢穴方向行走时使用环形隧道的概率（或）以及环形隧道的长度（）。模拟结果表明，当环形隧道长度相对较短时，对于（，）=（高，高）、（低，低）、（高，低）和（低，高），值较高。然而，当环形隧道长度相对较长时，仅对于（，）=（高，低）和（低，高）时值较高。我们发现这些结果主要受交通堵塞频率的影响。因此，白蚁若采取能减少食物运输过程中交通堵塞发生的策略将受益。在讨论部分，我们从生态学角度简要探讨了该策略。
