Entities › Collective systems

Ant colonies

Colonies pick the better nest because individual ants follow a quorum threshold. No ant compares the sites overall.

What’s measured

Recruitment rates, quorum thresholds and the choices colonies make between nest sites of different quality.

Evidence

• Colonies pick the better nest because individual ants follow a quorum threshold. No ant compares the sites overall.
  Pratt SC, Mallon EB, Sumpter DJT, Franks NR (2002) Quorum sensing, recruitment, and collective decision-making during colony emigration by the ant Leptothorax albipennis. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 52(2):117-127. doi:10.1007/s00265-002-0487-x.

Research on collective intelligence studies how groups decide. It doesn't claim that the group itself has experiences.