ants and economics

In what researchers describe as "un-peaceful coexistence," multiple ant species stake out the same territory and compete for the same food, but no single species wins out since some are better at finding resources and others better at guarding them.

Some ants, they found, sent out many scouts to look for food, so their species was better at finding resources, said researcher Fred Adler of the University of Utah. Others kept more ants in the colony and were better able to defend what was brought back.

Adler and colleagues described this as a "dominance-discovery trade-off."

Not only were some ants better at locating the food and others at holding onto it, but each was proficient at scavenging for a particular type of food.