Nest site choice in social insects

House-hunting is among the most challenging tasks faced by an insect society. Working under time pressure, the group must choose a site based on multiple criteria important to their future success. They must reach consensus on a single site and coordinate the colony’s move without benefit of well-informed leaders. Instead they rely on a network of individuals applying appropriate rules to limited information. Common features of these rules are quality-dependent information sharing to improve accuracy and “polling” of nestmates to coordinate decisions. These mechanisms provide insights into the general issue of how a colony acts as a collective intelligence.