Cambridge Entomological Club
Date and Time
Location
Deborah M. Gordon, Professor, Department of Biology, Stanford University, will present "The Ecology of Collective Behavior."
Deborah M. Gordon, Professor, Department of Biology, Stanford University, will present "The Ecology of Collective Behavior."
Collective behavior operates without central control, using local interactions among participants to allow groups to respond to changing conditions. Ant colonies function collectively, and the enormous diversity of more than 14,000 species of ants, in different habitats, provides opportunities to look for general ecological patterns. I will contrast two ant species: harvester ants that (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) live in the desert, where water is limited but conditions are stable, and the arboreal turtle ant (Cephalotes goniodontus ) that lives in the canopy of the tropical forest, where activity is easy but conditions are unpredictable. These examples suggest how collective behavior evolves to respond to changing situations.
The event will take place on Zoom.