Mobile cellular automata models of ant behavior: Movement activity of Leptothorax allardycei

Mobile cellular automata (MCA) models of the activity of ant colonies were used to explore the effects of changing the parameters that govern the types of interactions that can occur between ants. Two parameters have an effect: whether interactions between active ants influence each other's activity and whether interactions between active and inactive ants influence the activity of the inactive ants. We then investigated the production of periodic activity in artificial aggregates of workers of Leptothorax allardycei. Using an automated data collection system to analyze the activity patterns of 126 data records of 11.5 h each, we studied the effects of three attributes on the production of periodic activity: the size of the aggregate, the time of day, and the presence of the brood. When the brood was absent, the size of the aggregate had a significant effect on the production of periodic patterns of activity; however, this effect was most pronounced during the day and nearly absent in data records obtained at night. When the brood was present, the time of day had no effect, and the effect of aggregate size was much more pronounced; the extent of periodicity increased linearly with the size of the aggregate. All of the experimental results could be reclaimed by altering the parameters of the MCA models. Mobile cellular automata models produce testable predictions that make them especially useful for models of animal behavior.