IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jmathe/v12y2024i24p3893-d1540759.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Synchronized Rhythmic Activity of Ants with Distributed Rest Periods

Author

Listed:
  • Pedro M. M. da Silveira

    (Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 369, São Carlos 13560-970, SP, Brazil)

  • José F. Fontanari

    (Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, Caixa Postal 369, São Carlos 13560-970, SP, Brazil)

Abstract

Synchronization is a prevalent phenomenon in biological systems, including social insects such as ants. Certain ant species exhibit remarkable synchronization of their activities within the nest. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms of this coordinated behavior, we propose an integro-differential equation model that captures the autocatalytic nature of ant activation. Active ants can stimulate inactive individuals, leading to a cascade of arousal. By incorporating a stochastic component to represent variability in rest periods, we explore the conditions necessary for synchronization. Our analysis reveals a critical threshold for fluctuations in rest duration. Exceeding this threshold disrupts synchronization, driving the system towards a stable equilibrium. These findings offer valuable insights into the factors governing ant activity synchronization and highlight the delicate balance between model parameters required to generate rhythmic patterns.

Suggested Citation

  • Pedro M. M. da Silveira & José F. Fontanari, 2024. "Synchronized Rhythmic Activity of Ants with Distributed Rest Periods," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:12:y:2024:i:24:p:3893-:d:1540759
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/12/24/3893/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/12/24/3893/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:12:y:2024:i:24:p:3893-:d:1540759. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.