Emergent task-driven cooperation in ant collectives

Ant colonies are characterized by the presence of castes that are often correlated with morphological, physiological and behavioral distinctions. However, the completion of tasks with a potential benefit to the colony are impervious to these distinctions. But how interaction amongst individuals and with the environment affects collective actions remains poorly studied. Here, we probe a paradigm of collective task execution, tunneling through a barrier, using Camponotus Pennsylvanicus, carpenter ants, to address this question. We find that ant collectives that have multiple castes are more efficient than those made of a single caste - and show how the task creates an emergent dynamic division of labor determined by the interaction with the environment that cuts across morphological and physiological distinctions.