The process of evolution has generated an enormous diversity of behavioral and physiological interactions, far surpassing the diversity of interactions possible in chemical and physical systems. In insect societies, recent research has begun to reveal that even the most sophisticated structures (trails, nests, synchronization, division of labor,...) are structures built through the iteration of surprisingly simple behaviors performed by large numbers of individuals that rely only on local information. Our goal is to identify the link between the rather simple behavioral programs of the individuals in a group (mainly social insects) and the sophisticated patterns and response which emerge from their collective activity. This goal raises a number of questions to be addressed throughout experiments and models:

• What are the alternative mechanisms of pattern formation?
• What level of complexity at the individual level is required to generate the observed complexity at the group level?
• How much of the observed complexity at the group level is a reflection of complexity of the environment rather than complexity at the level of the individual?
• To what extent have widely differing organisms adopted similar, convergent strategies of pattern formation?

Selected publications:

• F. Saffre, R. Furey, B. Krafft and J.L. Deneubourg , "Collective decision-making in social spiders: dragline-mediated amplification process acts as a recruitment mechanism", Journal of Theoretical Biology, 198, p.507-517, (1999).
  

• S.C. Nicolis and J.L. Deneubourg , "Emerging patterns and food recruitment in ants: an analytical study", Journal of Theoretical Biology, 198, p.575-592 (1999).
  

• C. Detrain, C. Nathan and J.-L. Deneubourg, "The influence of the physical environment on the self-organized foraging patterns of ants", Naturwissenschaften, 88, p.171-174 (2001).
  

• P. Rasse and J.-L. Deneubourg, "Dynamics of nest excavation and nest size regulation of Lasius niger", Journal of Insects Behaviour, 14, p.433-449 (2001).
  

• A. Lioni, C. Sauwens, G. Theraulaz and J.-L. Deneubourg, "Chain formation in Oecophylla longinoda", Journal of Insects Behaviour, 15, p.679-696 (2001).