biological sciences HONOURs 2014 - The University of Sydney

28 GROUP BEHAVIOUR AND
SWARM INTELLIGENCE
Research Interests
I am interested in a variety of questions related to group
behaviour and swarm intelligence. I am particularly interested in
understanding how organisms with relatively simple cognitive
systems (ants, bees and slime moulds) are able to solve complex
tasks. For example, slime moulds (which lack brains) can solve
mazes, anticipate periodic events, make ‘clever’ decisions about
which foods to consume, and even use a form of memory to
navigate around their environment. Despite the fact that ant
brains are tiny, colonies of ants can solve shortest path problems
and respond rapidly to changes in food quality. I am also interested
in the costs and benefits of group living.
Honours projects
Honours projects will usually focus on some aspect of behaviour in
ants, slime moulds, honey bees or Australian native bees (although
I am open to working with other species).
1. Ants
Ant colonies build complex, efficient networks between nests.
We have shown that the shape of these networks is highly
efficient, but we don’t know how individual ants use the network,
or how networks respond to changes in traffic. Student projects
in this area would study the response of networks to various
Dr Tanya Latty
Room 253, Macleay
Building A12
T: (02) 9036 5162
E: tanya.latty@sydney.
edu.au
perturbations (severed trails, increase in traffic, etc), as well as examining how the individual behavior
of ants leads to collective solutions.
2. Slime moulds
Projects on slime moulds can either focus on behaviour (what kinds of problems can slime moulds
solve? How do these brainless organisms go about problem solving?) or on slime mould ecology. For
example, we know very little about the role slime moulds play in soil ecosystems.
3. Bees
I am looking for students to work on a project that will examine the ecology of native bees in
community gardens.