Many ant species establish subterranean colonies made up of numerous tunnels and chambers, which can form highly complex structures. Thousands of workers participate in its construction and maintenance. However, the exact way in which these are coordinated remains a mystery .
Now, a team of researchers from the National Center for Scientific Research, in France, the Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier University and the University of Nantes, in the same country, has revealed that these animals add a pheromone to building materials that serves as a guide in their work.
To find out, scientists have studied the behavior of the common black ant, Lasius niger , both collectively and individually, and have analyzed the development of their constructions using 3D visualization and computational modeling techniques. Thus, they have been able to determine that the workers deposit the earth with which they erect their nest in a very determined way, as if forming regularly spaced pillars, and in the same areas where their companions have done it previously.
In a study published in the journal PNAS , researchers indicate that animals leave a pheromone in the tanks that encourages other ants to carry out this task. When the small columns of earth reach a certain height, equivalent to the length of an ant’s body, they stop building upwards and dedicate themselves to doing it on the sides . That is, they use your body as a kind of template.
Over time, various climatic factors can cause the pheromone in materials to break down, ultimately allowing the ants to adapt the shape of the anthill to the surrounding conditions . Thus, if they live in a dry environment, the level of pheromones decreases rapidly, so the ants build fewer of the aforementioned pillars and the chambers will be larger, suitable for the insects to group together and preserve the humidity.
