The Ecology of Collective Behavior

Abstract

Networks of local interactions regulate biological systems. Ecological constraints set by resource distribution, operating costs, and the threat of rupture produce similar collective behavior in ants, cells, and gene transcription.

Abstract

Similar patterns of interaction, such as network motifs and feedback loops, are used in many natural collective processes, probably because they have evolved independently under similar pressures. Here I consider how three environmental constraints may shape the evolution of collective behavior: the patchiness of resources, the operating costs of maintaining the interaction network that produces collective behavior, and the threat of rupture of the network. The ants are a large and successful taxon that have evolved in very diverse environments. Examples from ants provide a starting point for examining more generally the fit between the particular pattern of interaction that regulates activity, and the environment in which it functions.