When ants have been uncovered to a pathogen, they alter the way in which they construct their nests as a way to scale back the danger of an epidemic.
Nathalie Stroeymeyt on the College of Bristol within the UK and her colleagues demonstrated this by placing teams of 180 black backyard ants (Lasius niger), together with larvae and pupae, in containers of soil and monitoring their nest constructing. Cameras recorded their floor exercise whereas common CT scans revealed the form of the nests they excavated throughout the soil.…