Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants
- Autores
- Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Chinchilla, Federico; Umaña, Maria Natalia; Ocasio Torres, Maria Elena; Chauta Mellizo, Alexander; Acosta Rojas, Diana; Marinaro Fuentes, María Sofía; de Torres Curth, Monica Irma; Amador Vargas, Sabrina
- Año de publicación
- 2015
- Idioma
- inglés
- Tipo de recurso
- artículo
- Estado
- versión publicada
- Descripción
- The design of transport paths in consuming entities that use routes to access food should be under strong selective pressures to reduce costs and increase benefits. We studied the adaptive nature of branching angles in foraging trail networks of the two most abundant tropical leaf-cutting ant species. We mathematically assessed how these angles should reflect the relative weight of the pressure for reducing either trail maintenance effort or traveling distances. Bifurcation angles of ant foraging trails strongly differed depending on the location of the nests. Ant colonies in open areas showed more acute branching angles, which best shorten travel distances but create longer new trail sections to maintain than a perpendicular branch, suggesting that trail maintenance costs are smaller compared to the benefit of reduced traveling distance. Conversely, ant colonies in forest showed less acute branching angles, indicating that maintenance costs are of larger importance relative to the benefits of shortening travel distances. The trail pattern evident in forests may be attributable to huge amounts of litterfall that increase trail maintenance costs, and the abundant canopy cover that reduces traveling costs by mitigating direct sunlight and rain. These results suggest that branching angles represent a trade-off between reducing maintenance work and shortening travel distances, illustrating how animal constructions can adjust to diverse environmental conditions. This idea may help to understand diverse networks systems, including urban travel networks.
Fil: Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio de Ecotono; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina
Fil: Chinchilla, Federico. Estación Biológica Monteverde; Costa Rica
Fil: Umaña, Maria Natalia. The Field Museum; Estados Unidos
Fil: Ocasio Torres, Maria Elena. Universidad de Puerto Rico; Puerto Rico
Fil: Chauta Mellizo, Alexander. Universidad Nacional de Colombia; Colombia
Fil: Acosta Rojas, Diana. Universidad del Valle; Colombia
Fil: Marinaro Fuentes, María Sofía. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina
Fil: de Torres Curth, Monica Irma. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio de Ecotono; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina
Fil: Amador Vargas, Sabrina. University Of Texas; Estados Unidos - Materia
-
Ant Behavior
Atta Cephalotes
Atta Colombica
Costa Rica
Foraging Trails - Nivel de accesibilidad
- acceso abierto
- Condiciones de uso
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
- Repositorio
- Institución
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
- OAI Identificador
- oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/12227
Ver los metadatos del registro completo
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CONICET Digital (CONICET) |
spelling |
Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting antsFarji Brener, Alejandro GustavoChinchilla, FedericoUmaña, Maria NataliaOcasio Torres, Maria ElenaChauta Mellizo, AlexanderAcosta Rojas, DianaMarinaro Fuentes, María Sofíade Torres Curth, Monica IrmaAmador Vargas, SabrinaAnt BehaviorAtta CephalotesAtta ColombicaCosta RicaForaging Trailshttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1The design of transport paths in consuming entities that use routes to access food should be under strong selective pressures to reduce costs and increase benefits. We studied the adaptive nature of branching angles in foraging trail networks of the two most abundant tropical leaf-cutting ant species. We mathematically assessed how these angles should reflect the relative weight of the pressure for reducing either trail maintenance effort or traveling distances. Bifurcation angles of ant foraging trails strongly differed depending on the location of the nests. Ant colonies in open areas showed more acute branching angles, which best shorten travel distances but create longer new trail sections to maintain than a perpendicular branch, suggesting that trail maintenance costs are smaller compared to the benefit of reduced traveling distance. Conversely, ant colonies in forest showed less acute branching angles, indicating that maintenance costs are of larger importance relative to the benefits of shortening travel distances. The trail pattern evident in forests may be attributable to huge amounts of litterfall that increase trail maintenance costs, and the abundant canopy cover that reduces traveling costs by mitigating direct sunlight and rain. These results suggest that branching angles represent a trade-off between reducing maintenance work and shortening travel distances, illustrating how animal constructions can adjust to diverse environmental conditions. This idea may help to understand diverse networks systems, including urban travel networks.Fil: Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio de Ecotono; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Chinchilla, Federico. Estación Biológica Monteverde; Costa RicaFil: Umaña, Maria Natalia. The Field Museum; Estados UnidosFil: Ocasio Torres, Maria Elena. Universidad de Puerto Rico; Puerto RicoFil: Chauta Mellizo, Alexander. Universidad Nacional de Colombia; ColombiaFil: Acosta Rojas, Diana. Universidad del Valle; ColombiaFil: Marinaro Fuentes, María Sofía. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto de Ecología Regional; ArgentinaFil: de Torres Curth, Monica Irma. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio de Ecotono; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; ArgentinaFil: Amador Vargas, Sabrina. University Of Texas; Estados UnidosEcological Society Of America2015-02info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/12227Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Chinchilla, Federico; Umaña, Maria Natalia; Ocasio Torres, Maria Elena; Chauta Mellizo, Alexander; et al.; Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants; Ecological Society Of America; Ecology; 96; 2; 2-2015; 510–5170012-9658enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1890/14-0220.1info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/14-0220.1/abstractinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-03T10:04:42Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/12227instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-03 10:04:43.166CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants |
title |
Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants |
spellingShingle |
Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo Ant Behavior Atta Cephalotes Atta Colombica Costa Rica Foraging Trails |
title_short |
Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants |
title_full |
Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants |
title_fullStr |
Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants |
title_full_unstemmed |
Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants |
title_sort |
Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants |
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv |
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo Chinchilla, Federico Umaña, Maria Natalia Ocasio Torres, Maria Elena Chauta Mellizo, Alexander Acosta Rojas, Diana Marinaro Fuentes, María Sofía de Torres Curth, Monica Irma Amador Vargas, Sabrina |
author |
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo |
author_facet |
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo Chinchilla, Federico Umaña, Maria Natalia Ocasio Torres, Maria Elena Chauta Mellizo, Alexander Acosta Rojas, Diana Marinaro Fuentes, María Sofía de Torres Curth, Monica Irma Amador Vargas, Sabrina |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Chinchilla, Federico Umaña, Maria Natalia Ocasio Torres, Maria Elena Chauta Mellizo, Alexander Acosta Rojas, Diana Marinaro Fuentes, María Sofía de Torres Curth, Monica Irma Amador Vargas, Sabrina |
author2_role |
author author author author author author author author |
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv |
Ant Behavior Atta Cephalotes Atta Colombica Costa Rica Foraging Trails |
topic |
Ant Behavior Atta Cephalotes Atta Colombica Costa Rica Foraging Trails |
purl_subject.fl_str_mv |
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1 |
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv |
The design of transport paths in consuming entities that use routes to access food should be under strong selective pressures to reduce costs and increase benefits. We studied the adaptive nature of branching angles in foraging trail networks of the two most abundant tropical leaf-cutting ant species. We mathematically assessed how these angles should reflect the relative weight of the pressure for reducing either trail maintenance effort or traveling distances. Bifurcation angles of ant foraging trails strongly differed depending on the location of the nests. Ant colonies in open areas showed more acute branching angles, which best shorten travel distances but create longer new trail sections to maintain than a perpendicular branch, suggesting that trail maintenance costs are smaller compared to the benefit of reduced traveling distance. Conversely, ant colonies in forest showed less acute branching angles, indicating that maintenance costs are of larger importance relative to the benefits of shortening travel distances. The trail pattern evident in forests may be attributable to huge amounts of litterfall that increase trail maintenance costs, and the abundant canopy cover that reduces traveling costs by mitigating direct sunlight and rain. These results suggest that branching angles represent a trade-off between reducing maintenance work and shortening travel distances, illustrating how animal constructions can adjust to diverse environmental conditions. This idea may help to understand diverse networks systems, including urban travel networks. Fil: Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio de Ecotono; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina Fil: Chinchilla, Federico. Estación Biológica Monteverde; Costa Rica Fil: Umaña, Maria Natalia. The Field Museum; Estados Unidos Fil: Ocasio Torres, Maria Elena. Universidad de Puerto Rico; Puerto Rico Fil: Chauta Mellizo, Alexander. Universidad Nacional de Colombia; Colombia Fil: Acosta Rojas, Diana. Universidad del Valle; Colombia Fil: Marinaro Fuentes, María Sofía. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Instituto de Ecología Regional; Argentina Fil: de Torres Curth, Monica Irma. Universidad Nacional del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Laboratorio de Ecotono; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Patagonia Norte. Instituto de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Medioambiente; Argentina Fil: Amador Vargas, Sabrina. University Of Texas; Estados Unidos |
description |
The design of transport paths in consuming entities that use routes to access food should be under strong selective pressures to reduce costs and increase benefits. We studied the adaptive nature of branching angles in foraging trail networks of the two most abundant tropical leaf-cutting ant species. We mathematically assessed how these angles should reflect the relative weight of the pressure for reducing either trail maintenance effort or traveling distances. Bifurcation angles of ant foraging trails strongly differed depending on the location of the nests. Ant colonies in open areas showed more acute branching angles, which best shorten travel distances but create longer new trail sections to maintain than a perpendicular branch, suggesting that trail maintenance costs are smaller compared to the benefit of reduced traveling distance. Conversely, ant colonies in forest showed less acute branching angles, indicating that maintenance costs are of larger importance relative to the benefits of shortening travel distances. The trail pattern evident in forests may be attributable to huge amounts of litterfall that increase trail maintenance costs, and the abundant canopy cover that reduces traveling costs by mitigating direct sunlight and rain. These results suggest that branching angles represent a trade-off between reducing maintenance work and shortening travel distances, illustrating how animal constructions can adjust to diverse environmental conditions. This idea may help to understand diverse networks systems, including urban travel networks. |
publishDate |
2015 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2015-02 |
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501 info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/11336/12227 Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Chinchilla, Federico; Umaña, Maria Natalia; Ocasio Torres, Maria Elena; Chauta Mellizo, Alexander; et al.; Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants; Ecological Society Of America; Ecology; 96; 2; 2-2015; 510–517 0012-9658 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11336/12227 |
identifier_str_mv |
Farji Brener, Alejandro Gustavo; Chinchilla, Federico; Umaña, Maria Natalia; Ocasio Torres, Maria Elena; Chauta Mellizo, Alexander; et al.; Branching angles reflect a trade-off between reducing trail maintenance costs or travel distances in leaf-cutting ants; Ecological Society Of America; Ecology; 96; 2; 2-2015; 510–517 0012-9658 |
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1890/14-0220.1 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1890/14-0220.1/abstract |
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/ |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
rights_invalid_str_mv |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/ |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Ecological Society Of America |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Ecological Society Of America |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET) instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
reponame_str |
CONICET Digital (CONICET) |
collection |
CONICET Digital (CONICET) |
instname_str |
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
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CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
repository.mail.fl_str_mv |
dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar |
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1842269871265546240 |
score |
13.13397 |