Army Ants Spoil Pothole Picnics!

by ScienceDave | May 27, 2007 at 06:02 pm

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Be thankful you aren’t an Army Ant, or you might find yourself stuffed inside a pothole on the Autobaun, with sports cars, 18-wheelers, and family-filled RV’s flying over you.

I have reported on some weird organismal behaviour, including swimming dinosaurs, quantum plants, nuclear fungi, and fruit flies with free will (insert shameless plug), but this takes the cake (or prey, as it may be).

Ants are interesting organisms, known for their caste structure and individual specialization (just like termites). Researchers never cease to be amazed by their unique and as of late bizarre behaviour, including Dr Scott Powell and Professor Nigel Franks at the University of Bristol.

They discovered that Eciton burchellii, the archetypical army ant belonging to the most common group found in the USA, fills the tiny gaps and crevices between twigs and leaves with fellow colonists to allow their cohort to press on back to the colony.

"When the traffic has passed, the down-trodden ants climb out of the potholes and follow their nest mates home," added Powell. "Broadly, our research demonstrates that a simple but highly specialised behaviour performed by a minority of ant workers can improve the performance of the majority, resulting in a clear benefit for the society as a whole."

Their experiments showed that individuals size-match to the hole they plug and cooperate to plug larger holes. "We did this by getting the ants to literally ‘walk the plank’, said Powell. "We inserted planks drilled with different sizes of hole into the army ants’ trails to see how well different sizes of ant matched different sizes of pot hole. Indeed, they fit beautifully", explained Franks.

Overall, this behaviour results in an increase in the average speed of prey-laden traffic. Moreover, calculations suggest that under a range of realistic scenarios, plugging behaviour results in a clear increase in daily prey intake. In other words, the behaviour of the pothole pluggers more than compensates for them not carrying prey themselves.

Prof. Franks had some words that will surely resonate with many of us.

Professor Franks said: "I think every road user who has ever inwardly cursed as their vehicle bounced across a pothole – jarring every bone in their body – will identify with this story. When it comes to rapid road repairs, the ants have their own do-it-yourself highways agency."