{
  "title": "DistributedPhysiology",
  "domain": "Entomology",
  "type": "Paper",
  "creators": [
    {
      "name": "Daniel A. Friedman"
    },
    {
      "name": "Deborah M. Gordon"
    }
  ],
  "description": "Ant colonies regulate collective behavior through interactions among individual workers, creating colony-level physiological processes that are distributed across all individuals. We examine how this...",
  "abstract": "Ant colonies regulate collective behavior through interactions among individual workers, creating colony-level physiological processes that are distributed across all individuals. We examine how this distributed physiology emerges from local interactions, neurochemistry, and gene expression patterns. The colony operates as a superorganism in which physiological regulation—metabolism, water balance, immunity—is accomplished collectively through decentralized interaction networks rather than centr",
  "keywords": [
    "distributed physiology",
    "superorganism",
    "collective behavior",
    "ant colonies",
    "decentralized control",
    "interaction networks",
    "colony metabolism",
    "social immunity"
  ],
  "methods": [
    {
      "name": "Field observation and behavioral assays",
      "description": "Applied field observation and behavioral assays approach"
    },
    {
      "name": "Population genetics analysis",
      "description": "Applied population genetics analysis approach"
    }
  ],
  "key_findings": [
    "Ant colonies regulate collective behavior through interactions among individual workers, creating colony-level physiological processes that are distributed across all individuals.",
    "Analysis of We examine how this..."
  ],
  "related_papers": [
    "2016_AntGenetics",
    "2016_ForagingGene",
    "2017_MutAnts"
  ],
  "checked_at": "2026-07-01T20:50:01Z"
}