Publications related to Foraging

Multiple nest entrances alter foraging and information transfer in ants

The ecological success of ants relies on their ability to discover and collectively exploit available resources. In this process, the nest entrances are key locations at which foragers transfer food and information about the surrounding environment. We ass ...

2020

Sensor and the Beast: Generalised Methods to Recognise Animal Behaviour and Quantify Energy Expenditure Using Inertial Sensors, and Applications

Pritish Chakravarty

How an animal allocates time and energy to different activities has repercussions for its survival, fitness, and response to changing environmental conditions. Fine-scale information on animal behaviour and energy expenditure can help develop better inform ...

EPFL2020

Nutrient limitations induced by drought affect forage N and P differently in two permanent grasslands

Alexandre Buttler, Pierre Rémi Mariotte, Amarante Vitra, Claire Emilie Deléglise

Drought events can strongly affect ecosystem functioning by modifying relationship between plants, microbes and soil chemistry, with consequent impacts on nutrient cycling. However, the potential impacts of a soil moisture reduction on the nitrogen (N) and ...

ELSEVIER2019

Drought-induced shifts in plants traits, yields and nutritive value under realistic grazing and mowing managements in a mountain grassland

Alexandre Buttler, Constant Signarbieux, Thomas Spiegelberger, Claire Emilie Deléglise

Extreme drought events can dramatically impact grassland ecosystems, causing potential loss of forage production for livestock in temperate grasslands. However, knowledge of drought effects on forage production, nutritive value and plant community stabilit ...

Elsevier2015

Historical contingency affects signaling strategies and competitive abilities in evolving populations of simulated robots

Dario Floreano, Laurent Keller

One of the key innovations during the evolution of life on earth has been the emergence of efficient communication systems, yet little is known about the causes and consequences of the great diversity within and between species. By conducting experimental ...

National Academy of Sciences2012

Artificial pheromone for path selection by a foraging swarm of robots

Valentin Longchamp, Simon Garnier

Foraging robots involved in a search and retrieval task may create paths to navigate faster in their environment. In this context, a swarm of robots that has found several resources and created different paths may benefit strongly from path selection. Path ...

2010

The evolution of communication in robot societies

Sara Mitri

Communication is fundamental to life on earth. All social organisms, from bacteria to humans, use communicative signals to coordinate their behaviors with members of their own and other species. Despite its key role in social organization, many questions r ...

EPFL2009

Teamwork in Self-Organized Robot Colonies

Francesco Mondada, Michael Bonani, Roderich Gross

Swarm robotics draws inspiration from decentralized self-organizing biological systems in general and from the collective behavior of social insects in particular. In social insect colonies, many tasks are performed by higher order group or team entities, ...

2009

Influence of the level of polyandry and genetic architecture on division of labour

Dario Floreano, Laurent Keller

Genetic diversity is thought to be a main factor in determin ing task performance and behavioral plasticity of social insect colonies. This diversity has two main causes. a) Multiple matings by the colony queen (polyandry) and b) the number of regions on t ...

MIT press2006