干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

We consider a continuous mathematical description of a population of ants and simulate numerically their foraging behavior using a system of partial differential equations of chemotaxis type. We show that this system accurately reproduces observed foraging behavior, especially spontaneous trail formation and efficient removal of food sources. We show through numerical experiments that trail formation is correlated with efficient food removal. Our results illustrate the emergence of trail formation from simple modeling principles. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.