Mathematical Sampling Technique Inspired by Rock Ants

Innovation: Academia

University of Bristol

2020

Image: Andre Mouton / Unsplash / CC BY SA - Creative Commons Attribution + ShareAlike

Sense Chemicals (Odor, Taste, etc.) From the Environment

Chemicals are important for signaling and communication among living systems, either intentionally (such as when two living systems try to find one another) or unintentionally (such as when a plant emits a chemical signal that an herbivore can use to find a tasty bite). They are also important for other uses, such as navigating or finding sources for minerals. But chemical signals are often relatively weak and disperse when moving through water or gases. Therefore, detecting them requires specialized abilities, including a way to determine where they are coming from. A well known example of sensing chemicals can be seen in ants following a pheromone trail laid down by others in their colony to locate a quality and abundant food source.

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Send Chemical Signals (Odor, Taste, Etc.)

Tastes, odors, and hormones are all chemical signals that can float through the air or water, or be applied to solid surfaces. Chemicals are important for signaling and communication; even humans, with our underdeveloped sense of smell, are influenced by chemicals more than we realize. Chemical signals are often specific to the living system intended to receive them, and are often relatively weak, dispersing upon moving through liquids or gases. To ensure that chemical signals reach their target, living systems create unique chemical signals and methods of dispersal. One example is an orchid that is pollinated by dung beetles, and therefore distributes a dung-smelling aroma to attract them.

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Move in/on Solids

To obtain needed resources or escape predators, some living systems must move on solid substances, some must move within them, and others must do both. Solids vary in their form; they can be soft or porous like leaves, sand, skin, and snow, or hard like rock, ice, or tree bark. Movement can involve a whole living system, such as an ostrich running across the ground or an earthworm burrowing through the soil. It can also involve just part of a living system, such as a mosquito poking its mouthparts into skin. Solids vary in smoothness, stickiness, moisture content, density, etc, each of which presents different challenges. As a result, living systems have adaptations to meet one, and sometimes multiple, challenges. For example, some insects must be able to hold onto both rough and slippery leaf surfaces due to the diversity in their environment.

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Sampling technique from University of Bristol tracks all sampled components to avoid repetition.

Benefits

Increased efficiency
Decreased redundancy

Applications

Mathematical modeling
Biology
Natural disasters
Economics

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Goal 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities

The Challenge

Sampling methods used in many probability-based algorithms do not track previously sampled components. This methodology leads to inefficiency because the program cannot remember what it has already done and could end up repeating the process.

Innovation Details

Rock ants leave chemical trails as they explore new spaces. These trails tell other ants where not to go, to avoid exploring the same area twice. Researchers mimicked this method by creating an algorithm that made ‘negative trails’ of what data it had already sampled, which decreased redundant data gathering and increased efficiency.

Biological Model

Rock ant colonies find nests by exploring nearby areas, and leave behind chemical trails as they explore new spaces. These trails tell other ants where not to go, to avoid exploring the same area twice. This allows ants to collectively explore more space as a group. This is different from food foraging, in which ants leave chemical trails so other ants can follow them to new sources of food.

See Related Strategy

Biological Strategy

Colonies Self-organize

Insects

Colonies of social insects self-organize and carry out complex group tasks through many simple individual interactions.

References

Journal article

The Bayesian superorganism: externalized memories facilitate distributed sampling

Journal of the Royal Society Interface

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