TODO+examples+(ants+and+bees)

__**NOTE: THE INFORMATION ON THIS PAGE IS NO LONGER PART OF THE COURSE (removed from main wiki, 2014-2015)**__

TODO List
 * REF: michiel van boven
 * REF: complete genome + kinase over-expression
 * REF: expression patterns in bees of diff castes



**TODO example 1: Ant nest disturbance**
In a simple model by [|Deneubourg et al. (1991)] was used to study the how after a nest disturbance, how ant behaviour reorganizes and sorts out a nest again through self-organization. //How can stupid ants do that?// The model assumed the following simplistic algorithm:

IF (**SEE OBJECT WITHOUT MANY OF THAT OBJECT AROUND**) THEN (**PICK IT UP AND DROP IT WHEN MANY OF THAT OBJECT AROUND**) This was found to be sufficient to generate the sorting of the nest. Interestingly it leads to a distributed behaviour, not a //collective// behaviour (i.e. one ant could do it, but more ants do it quicker). This is similar to [|SWARM intelligence] (e.g. cluster analysis).

**TODO example 2: Behavioural Differentiation**
Here we look at the case of [|castes in bees], where worker bee behaviour depends on age. Seeley ([|1982]) found that:
 * the percentage of time individuals do different things differs across ages: division over labour over age
 * types of behaviour in different parts of the nest: center and periphery

This suggests that the driving force of division of labour is based on environmental cues. In a model by Michiel van Boven (1991 - unpublished) the impact of TODO in this system was studied: Results:
 * all behaviours could be done, but triggered only by TODO: if see .... then do .... (i.e. triggered by environment)
 * young bees are born in the center and then do behaviours associated with the center (e.g. clean cells, feed brood)
 * older bees forage
 * merely the spatial structure of the nest is sufficient
 * behaviour is regulated by TODO
 * it is enough to stay put for a while where you are

This shows that: under strict circumstances it is possible that behavioural differentiation is TODO based.

More recently the [|complete bee genome] has been sequenced and we now know that the differentiation from non-forager to forager bee is due to a protein kinase over-expression (REF?). Their genetic expression pattern is therefore quite different. So our model exercise shows us how powerful TODO can BEE. However, of course when foraging, doing different things can also generate differential gene expression. So what then comes first? First TODO and then GENE expression or vice-versa. Most probably it is an inter-relation between the two.

Recent cluster analyses of gene expression patterns of different bees (REF?) shows:
 * a cluster of foragers
 * gene expression of young foragers is similar to old foragers: so apparently there is some flexibility to differentiate sooner
 * for other behaviours before foraging: not much gene expression differences

Therefore we see both happening:
 * 1) By doing what is TODO, individuals adapt to the environment
 * 2) By doing something, individuals change TODO it, i.e. they "learn" TODO it.

(In light of the [|orangutans] of[| van Schaik] we see that wild orangutans, when they are being hunted take their baby home. However those in [|rehabilitation centers] where they are prepped to live in the wild again, prefer to stay in camps and try to get back to them.)

[|**Deneubourg, J.L et al.** 1991 THE DYNAMICS OF COLLECTIVE SORTINGROBOT-LIKE ANTS AND ANT-LIKE ROBOTS in From Animals to Animats, Meyer JA & Wilson SW (eds), MIT Press, pp 356-363.] [|**Seeley TD**][| (1982) Adaptive significance of the age polyethism schedule in honeybee colonies Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Volume 11, Number 4,] [|287-293] [|, DOI: 10.1007/BF00299306] = =
 * References**