Data from: Short-term activity cycles impede information transmission in ant colonies

Rhythmical activity patterns are ubiquitous in nature. We study an
oscillatory biological system: collective activity cycles in ant colonies.
Ant colonies have become model systems for research on biological networks
because the interactions between the component parts are visible to the
naked eye, and because the time-ordered contact network formed by these
interactions serves as the substrate for the distribution of information
and other resources throughout the colony. To understand how the
collective activity cycles influence the contact network transport
properties, we used an automated tracking system to record the movement of
all the individuals within nine different ant colonies. From these
trajectories we extracted over two million ant-to-ant interactions.
Time-series analysis of the temporal fluctuations of the overall colony
interaction and movement rates revealed that both the period and amplitude
of the activity cycles exhibit a diurnal cycle, in which daytime cycles
are faster and of greater amplitude than night cycles. Using
epidemiology-derived models of transmission over networks, we compared the
transmission properties of the observed periodic contact networks with
those of synthetic aperiodic networks. These simulations revealed that
contrary to some predictions, regularly-oscillating contact networks
should impede information transmission. Further, we provide a mechanistic
explanation for this effect, and present evidence in support of it.

节律性活动模式广泛存在于自然界中。本研究聚焦一类振荡性生物系统——蚁群的集体活动周期。蚁群已成为生物网络研究的经典模型系统：一方面，其组成个体间的相互作用可通过肉眼直接观测；另一方面，由这些相互作用形成的时序接触网络（time-ordered contact network），是整个蚁群内信息与其他资源分配的载体。为探究集体活动周期对接触网络传输特性的影响，本研究借助自动化追踪系统，记录了9个不同蚁群中所有个体的运动轨迹。基于这些轨迹，我们共提取出超过200万次蚂蚁间的相互作用事件。通过对蚁群整体交互与运动速率的时序波动开展时间序列分析，我们发现活动周期的周期时长与振幅均呈现昼夜节律：日间活动周期的速率更快、振幅也更大。本研究借助源自流行病学的网络传播模型，将观测到的周期性接触网络与人工合成的非周期性网络的传输特性进行了对比。模拟结果表明，与部分既有预测相悖，规则振荡的接触网络反而会阻碍信息的传输。此外，本研究还针对该效应给出了机制性解释，并提供了相关佐证材料。