In a new study, UCLA and University of Illinois-Urbana biologists discovered insights about how ants build their nests that could be useful for designing more efficient human transportation systems. The scientists were interested in learning whether the way ants build their nests is more influenced by the evolutionary history of each individual species or current ecological conditions. What they found was that evolution could not explain the variations they observed among different species’ nests. Rather, they found, the environments in which ants forage and the way they transport food are the main factors that dictate how each species builds its nests.
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