Task Allocation in Ant Colonies

In this paper we propose a mathematical model for studying the phenomenon of division of labor in ant colonies. Inside this model we investigate how simple task allocation mechanisms can be used to achieve an optimal division of labor.

[1]  Adi Rosén,et al.  The Distributed k-Server Problem - A Competitive Distributed Translator for k-Server Algorithms , 1997, J. Algorithms.

[2]  V. Isaeva Self-organization in biological systems , 2012, Biology Bulletin.

[3]  G. Theraulaz,et al.  Response threshold reinforcements and division of labour in insect societies , 1998, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[4]  Amos Korman,et al.  Memory Lower Bounds for Randomized Collaborative Search and Implications for Biology , 2012, DISC.

[5]  D. Sumpter,et al.  Phase transition between disordered and ordered foraging in Pharaoh's ants , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[6]  Éva Tardos,et al.  An approximation algorithm for the generalized assignment problem , 1993, Math. Program..

[7]  Chris Tofts,et al.  Doing the right thing: Ants, honeybees and naked mole-rats. , 1992, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[8]  Gene E. Robinson,et al.  Worker nutrition and division of labour in honeybees , 2005, Animal Behaviour.

[9]  Chryssis Georgiou,et al.  Cooperative Task-Oriented Computing: Algorithms and Complexity , 2011, Synthesis Lectures on Distributed Computing Theory.

[10]  F. Tripet,et al.  Foraging for Work and Age‐Based Polyethism: The Roles of Age and Previous Experience on Task Choice in Ants , 2004 .

[11]  Alan Burns,et al.  A survey of hard real-time scheduling for multiprocessor systems , 2011, CSUR.

[12]  Edward O. Wilson,et al.  Caste and division of labor in leaf-cutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Atta) , 1983, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[13]  Anja Weidenmüller,et al.  The control of nest climate in bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) colonies: interindividual variability and self reinforcement in fanning response , 2004 .

[14]  Noga Alon,et al.  A Biological Solution to a Fundamental Distributed Computing Problem , 2011, Science.

[15]  Anna Dornhaus,et al.  Spatial organization and division of labour in the bumblebee Bombus impatiens , 2009, Animal Behaviour.

[16]  David S. Johnson,et al.  Computers and Intractability: A Guide to the Theory of NP-Completeness , 1978 .

[17]  Anna Dornhaus,et al.  Why do not all workers work? Colony size and workload during emigrations in the ant Temnothorax albipennis , 2008, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[18]  Yuval Rabani,et al.  Competitive k-server algorithms , 1990, Proceedings [1990] 31st Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science.

[19]  A. Dornhaus Specialization Does Not Predict Individual Efficiency in an Ant , 2008, PLoS biology.

[20]  Edward O. Wilson,et al.  Caste and division of labor in leaf-cutter ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Atta) , 1980, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[21]  Amos Korman Theoretical distributed computing meets biology , 2012, TADDS '12.

[22]  Jennifer L. Welch,et al.  Link Reversal Algorithms , 2011, Synthesis Lectures on Distributed Computing Theory.

[23]  Gwenaël Kaminski,et al.  Individual Experience Alone Can Generate Lasting Division of Labor in Ants , 2007, Current Biology.

[24]  J. Deneubourg,et al.  Self-organization mechanisms in ant societies. II: Learning in foraging and division of labor , 1987 .

[25]  N. Franks,et al.  Spatial relationships within nests of the ant Leptothorax unifasciatus (Latr.) and their implications for the division of labour , 1995, Animal Behaviour.

[26]  James H. Anderson,et al.  Proceedings of the twelfth annual ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing , 1993, PODC 1993.

[27]  E. Bonabeau,et al.  Quantitative study of the fixed threshold model for the regulation of division of labour in insect societies , 1996, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[28]  James W. Layland,et al.  Scheduling Algorithms for Multiprogramming in a Hard-Real-Time Environment , 1989, JACM.

[29]  Yuval Rabani,et al.  Competitive k-Server Algorithms (Extended Abstract) , 1990, FOCS 1990.

[30]  Alessandro Panconesi,et al.  Proceedings of the 2012 ACM symposium on Principles of distributed computing , 2012, PODC 2012.

[31]  Daniel Merkle,et al.  Dynamic Polyethism and Competition for Tasks in Threshold Reinforcement Models of Social Insects , 2004, Adapt. Behav..

[32]  Anna Dornhaus,et al.  How is activity distributed among and within tasks in Temnothorax ants? , 2012, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[33]  Nancy A. Lynch,et al.  Trade-offs between selection complexity and performance when searching the plane without communication , 2014, PODC.

[34]  James F. A. Traniello,et al.  Age-related repertoire expansion and division of labor in Pheidole dentata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): a new perspective on temporal polyethism and behavioral plasticity in ants , 2006, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[35]  S. Pratt,et al.  A modelling framework for understanding social insect foraging , 2003, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[36]  T. Seeley The Wisdom of the Hive: The Social Physiology of Honey Bee Colonies , 1995 .

[37]  D. Gordon The organization of work in social insect colonies , 1996, Nature.

[38]  G. Robinson Regulation of division of labor in insect societies. , 1992, Annual review of entomology.

[39]  M. Myerscough,et al.  Simulation models of the role of genetic variability in social insect task allocation , 2004, Insectes Sociaux.

[40]  Jean-Sébastien Sereni,et al.  Collaborative search on the plane without communication , 2012, PODC '12.

[41]  Anna Dornhaus,et al.  The Trail Less Traveled: Individual Decision-Making and Its Effect on Group Behavior , 2012, PloS one.

[42]  G. Robinson,et al.  Sociogenomics: social life in molecular terms , 2005, Nature Reviews Genetics.