Studying food distribution in ant groups is essential for investigating social behavior, offering valuable insights into resource allocation, group dynamics, and environmental adaptation, thereby advancing ecological research. In this work, a highly sensitive and quantitative experimental tool was developed to visualize changes over time in food distribution within ant groups using positron-emitting radionuclides and a radiation imaging system. Food distribution observations within a 100-ant group allowed changes in an index of dispersion for food allocation to be quantified for 3 h. The method’s accuracy was confirmed by cross-checking with the results of a conventional quantification method using a gamma counter. Additionally, we successfully visualized food distribution in a 12-ant group and quantified the amount of food exchanged over a 30-min period. This method can be used to elucidate the mechanisms that control food distribution.
Suzui et al. (Thu,) studied this question.