On simulating seed foraging by red harvester ants

Following guidelines found in the writings of biologist D. Gordon, we discuss our efforts to simulate the seed foraging behavior of the red harvester ant species P. barbatus. What is significant is modeling the transition of ants idle in the nest to forager status based on the rate of return of successful foragers. We layout the assumptions, simplifications and policies used in our model and formulate the necessary parameters. We present examples of visualizations obtained from a sample run and summary statistics. We simulate several days´ worth of foraging and examine the sensitivity of the model to the rate parameter. We identify open questions and knowledge gaps that make further validation of the model difficult.