Colloquia
Kevin Passino Abstract
CAM/ICSB COLLOQUIUM
“Systems Biology of Cooperative Decision Making by Social Insects”
Kevin Passino
The Ohio State University
Tuesday September 5, 2006
4:00PM in 125 Hayes-Healy Center
*TEA – 3:30PM in Math Lounge – 257 Hayes-Healy*
Abstract:
Systems biology of decision making focuses on understanding the structures, dynamics, and evolution of complex interconnected biological mechanisms that support decision making by individuals and social animal groups. In this talk, an experimentally validated model of the nest-site selection process of honey bee swarms is introduced. In this spatially distributed dynamical feedback process individual bee actions and bee-to-bee communications combine to produce an emergent "consensus" nest choice. The process has connections to neurobiological cognition systems, especially at the behavioral level: the swarm can effectively discriminate between different quality nest sites and eliminate from consideration relatively inferior distractor sites. Simulations indicate that individual-level bee decision-making mechanisms have been tuned by natural selection to provide a balance between the need for fast and accurate decisions at the group level. Theoretical analyses of the properties of the dynamics of swarm decision making are briefly outlined. A brief overview of honey bee social foraging, swarm flight, and ant coordinated motion will be provided. For more information see: http://www.ece.osu.edu/~passino/
