Resource redistribution in polydomous ant nest networks: local or global?

Lay Summary Wood ants nests share resources with neighboring nests, not the whole colony. A single ant colony can either live all in one nest, or split into several separate, but communicating, nests. How and why ant colonies do this is unknown. By treating these separated colonies as networks we show that wood ants exchange food locally, with neighboring nests, without a colony-level plan.

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