My research adlresses the above question both in a general sense and with respect to some very specific biological questions.
Insect societies are capable of a wide range of complex tasks.
Observing the vast network of foraging trails followed by army ants, the construction of a cavernous maze of fungus gardens and garbage heaps by leaf cutter ants, or the highly organised collection and processing of nectar by the honey bee, it is easy to imagine that either each insect exhibits a remarkable intelligence or that social insect colonies have a collective intelligence above and beyond that of the insects which compose it. However, colony behaviour is necessarily the result of the interaction of individual insects with each other and with their environment. My research investigates how interactions, via a variety of chemical and physical signals and cues, produce co-ordinated colony level behaviour. To better understand the relationship between individual and population, I use various mathematical modelling techniques for describing behaviour in terms of the algorithms that individuals follow. The aim of this research is to find out how real insect colonies function.