Testing the Level of Ant Activity Associated with Quorum Sensing: An Empirical Approach Leading to the Establishment and Test of a Null-Model (Response to the Comment of Richardson et al.)

Testing the Level of Ant Activity Associated with Quorum Sensing: An Empirical Approach Leading to the Establishment and Test of a Null-Model (Response to the Comment of Richardson et al.)

P. Nouvellet, J.P. Bacon and D. Waxman

Journal of Theoretical Biology 280: 191-193 (2011)

School of Life Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QG
Sussex UK

In a paper in this journal (Nouvellet et al., 2010), we presented results from experiments on the behaviour of the Pharaoh's ant, Monomorium pharaonis, along with a substantial statistical and theoretical analysis of the results. In a minor part of our paper, we compared our results with the related work of Richardson et al. (2010a). These authors have subsequently commented on our interpretation of their work (Richardson et al., 2011). In this Letter we respond to the comments of Richardson et al. (2011), and give detailed arguments why we stand by our original conclusions.