IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-34181-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social interactions lead to motility-induced phase separation in fire ants

Author

Listed:
  • Caleb Anderson

    (University of Barcelona
    Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Alberto Fernandez-Nieves

    (University of Barcelona
    Georgia Institute of Technology
    ICREA-Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats
    University of Barcelona)

Abstract

Collections of fire ants are a form of active matter, as the ants use their internal metabolism to self-propel. In the absence of aligning interactions, theory and simulations predict that active matter with spatially dependent motility can undergo motility-induced phase separation. However, so far in experiments, the motility effects that drive this process have come from either crowding or an external parameter. Though fire ants are social insects that communicate and cooperate in nontrivial ways, we show that the effect of their interactions can also be understood within the framework of motility-induced phase separation. In this context, the slowing down of ants when they approach each other results in an effective attraction that can lead to space-filling clusters and an eventual formation of dynamical heterogeneities. These results illustrate that motility-induced phase separation can provide a unifying framework to rationalize the behavior of a wide variety of active matter systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Caleb Anderson & Alberto Fernandez-Nieves, 2022. "Social interactions lead to motility-induced phase separation in fire ants," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-34181-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34181-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34181-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-34181-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Máté Nagy & Zsuzsa Ákos & Dora Biro & Tamás Vicsek, 2010. "Hierarchical group dynamics in pigeon flocks," Nature, Nature, vol. 464(7290), pages 890-893, April.
    2. Joshua A. Riback & Lian Zhu & Mylene C. Ferrolino & Michele Tolbert & Diana M. Mitrea & David W. Sanders & Ming-Tzo Wei & Richard W. Kriwacki & Clifford P. Brangwynne, 2020. "Composition-dependent thermodynamics of intracellular phase separation," Nature, Nature, vol. 581(7807), pages 209-214, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li Jiang & Luca Giuggioli & Andrea Perna & Ramón Escobedo & Valentin Lecheval & Clément Sire & Zhangang Han & Guy Theraulaz, 2017. "Identifying influential neighbors in animal flocking," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(11), pages 1-32, November.
    2. Furqan Dar & Samuel R. Cohen & Diana M. Mitrea & Aaron H. Phillips & Gergely Nagy & Wellington C. Leite & Christopher B. Stanley & Jeong-Mo Choi & Richard W. Kriwacki & Rohit V. Pappu, 2024. "Biomolecular condensates form spatially inhomogeneous network fluids," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-17, December.
    3. Aishwarya Agarwal & Lisha Arora & Sandeep K. Rai & Anamika Avni & Samrat Mukhopadhyay, 2022. "Spatiotemporal modulations in heterotypic condensates of prion and α-synuclein control phase transitions and amyloid conversion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Liang, Rizhou & Zhang, Jiqiang & Zheng, Guozhong & Chen, Li, 2021. "Social hierarchy promotes the cooperation prevalence," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 567(C).
    5. Halima H. Schede & Pradeep Natarajan & Arup K. Chakraborty & Krishna Shrinivas, 2023. "A model for organization and regulation of nuclear condensates by gene activity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Carlo Bianca & Marco Menale, 2019. "A Convergence Theorem for the Nonequilibrium States in the Discrete Thermostatted Kinetic Theory," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-13, July.
    7. Gergely Tibély & David Sousa-Rodrigues & Péter Pollner & Gergely Palla, 2016. "Comparing the Hierarchy of Keywords in On-Line News Portals," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(11), pages 1-15, November.
    8. Tamás Nepusz & Tamás Vicsek, 2013. "Hierarchical Self-Organization of Non-Cooperating Individuals," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-9, December.
    9. Roy Harpaz & Minh Nguyet Nguyen & Armin Bahl & Florian Engert, 2021. "Precise visuomotor transformations underlying collective behavior in larval zebrafish," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    10. Li, Qing & Zhang, Lingwei & Jia, Yongnan & Lu, Tianzhao & Chen, Xiaojie, 2022. "Modeling, analysis, and optimization of three-dimensional restricted visual field metric-free swarms," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    11. Zhang, Jiu & Jin, Li-Fu & Zheng, Bo & Li, Yan & Jiang, Xiong-Fei, 2022. "Simplified calculations of time correlation functions in non-stationary complex financial systems," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 589(C).
    12. Jorine M. Eeftens & Manya Kapoor & Davide Michieletto & Clifford P. Brangwynne, 2021. "Polycomb condensates can promote epigenetic marks but are not required for sustained chromatin compaction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.
    13. Emily L. Spaulding & Alexis M. Feidler & Lio A. Cook & Dustin L. Updike, 2022. "RG/RGG repeats in the C. elegans homologs of Nucleolin and GAR1 contribute to sub-nucleolar phase separation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    14. Panpan Yang & Maode Yan & Jiacheng Song & Ye Tang, 2019. "Self-Organized Fission-Fusion Control Algorithm for Flocking Systems Based on Intermittent Selective Interaction," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-12, February.
    15. Manisha Poudyal & Komal Patel & Laxmikant Gadhe & Ajay Singh Sawner & Pradeep Kadu & Debalina Datta & Semanti Mukherjee & Soumik Ray & Ambuja Navalkar & Siddhartha Maiti & Debdeep Chatterjee & Jyoti D, 2023. "Intermolecular interactions underlie protein/peptide phase separation irrespective of sequence and structure at crowded milieu," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-21, December.
    16. Taehyun Kim & Jaeyoon Yoo & Sungho Do & Dong Soo Hwang & YongKeun Park & Yongdae Shin, 2023. "RNA-mediated demixing transition of low-density condensates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    17. Pakpour, Fatemeh & Vicsek, Tamás, 2024. "Delay-induced phase transitions in active matter," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 634(C).
    18. Partha S Bhagavatula & Charles Claudianos & Michael R Ibbotson & Mandyam V Srinivasan, 2014. "Behavioral Lateralization and Optimal Route Choice in Flying Budgerigars," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-13, March.
    19. Andrew Z. Lin & Kiersten M. Ruff & Furqan Dar & Ameya Jalihal & Matthew R. King & Jared M. Lalmansingh & Ammon E. Posey & Nadia A. Erkamp & Ian Seim & Amy S. Gladfelter & Rohit V. Pappu, 2023. "Dynamical control enables the formation of demixed biomolecular condensates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    20. Néstor Sepúlveda & Laurence Petitjean & Olivier Cochet & Erwan Grasland-Mongrain & Pascal Silberzan & Vincent Hakim, 2013. "Collective Cell Motion in an Epithelial Sheet Can Be Quantitatively Described by a Stochastic Interacting Particle Model," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(3), pages 1-12, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-34181-0. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.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.