Nigel R. Franks (born 21 August 1956) is an English emeritus professor ofAnimal Behaviour andEcology at theUniversity of Bristol. He obtained a BSc and PhD in biology at theUniversity of Leeds.[1] After receiving his BSc in 1977 he began his PhD, during which he spent two years doing field work in Panama on army ants with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He was awarded the Thomas Henry Huxley Award in 1980 from the Zoological Society of London for the best British PhD in Zoology. He then received a Postdoctoral Fellowship from theRoyal Commission for the Great Exhibition of 1851 allowing him to undertake postdoctoral work underEdward O. Wilson atHarvard University before becoming a lecturer at theUniversity of Bath in 1982, later being promoted to full professor in 1995. He moved to theUniversity of Bristol in 2001. He is renowned for his studies of collective animal behaviour, particularly ofant colonies. His Ant Lab at Bristol pioneered the use of Temnothorax (Temnothorax albipennis) as a model ant species for the study of collectivedecision-making andcomplex systems. In a 2009 profile inScience he discusses his pioneering use of radio-frequency identification tags (RFID) glued to the backs of each ant for tracking individuals in their society.[2] His bookSocial evolution in ants with Andrew Bourke was an important contribution to the understanding ofkin selection theory and sex ratio theory with respect tosocial evolution in insects,[3] while his co-authored bookSelf-organization in biological systems has been cited well over 3000 times[4]
Temnothorax albipennis ants have been observed teaching each other through a process known astandem running. An experienced forager leads a naive nest-mate to a newly discovered resource such as food or an empty nest site. The follower obtains knowledge of the route by following in the footsteps of the tutor, maintaining contact with itsantennae. Both leader and follower are aware of the progress made by the other with the leader slowing when the follower lags and speeding up when the follower gets too close.[5] Depending on how far away a new resource is, colonies will modulate the number of tandem runs that they perform, with a greater number of tandem runs occurring when the desired resource is more distant.[6] Furthermore, the relative contribution that workers make to this process differs widely among individuals, with certain ants attempting many more tandem runs than others.[7]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
 | This biography article of a United Kingdom academic is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
