Recruitment behavior and food retrieval

The term recruitment , like the term alarm has become diffuse as the diversity and complexity of social insect behavior has emerged. In this review we will take recruitment to mean the inducement of workers to move from one area to another, either to retrieve food or to move to new territory or a new nest site. The chemical signals involved are usually, but not always, deposited on the substratum, and may therefore also constitute an orientation signal. The two possible functions of trail pheromones , recruitment of nest mates and orientation to food or nest, need to be carefully separated to estimate the importance of these chemical signals in the ecology of each species. 

Recruitment communication has been comprehensively reviewed by H511-dobler (1978). Oster and Wilson (1978) have classified foraging behavior into five broad types, depending on the degree of co-operation and communication between workers. 

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