Characteristics of pellet transport as a function of time.

Transport duration (d), number of carriers involved (n) and the waiting times (w) between transport events are plotted as a function of time (t). (A) Time needed for a pellet to be sequentially carried over a distance of 2 m from the excavation site. Solid lines show the results of regression with ln-transformed d-values on both days (first day: d = 0.6·e^−0.3·t, r² = 0.45, N = 60, P<0.001; second day: d = 0.4·e^−0.04·t, r² = 0.05, N = 73, P = 0.047). (B) The number of workers involved in the transport of single pellets. Solid lines show the results of regression with ln-transformed Y-values on both days (first day: n = 6.6·e^−0.1·t, r² = 0.25, N = 60, P<0.001; second day: n = 7.9·e^−0.03·t, r² = 0.06, N = 73, P = 0.039). (C) Time a pellet remained on the floor between two transport events. Solid lines show the results of regression with ln-transformed Y-values on both days (first day: w = 3.8·e^−0.2·t, r² = 0.10, N = 225, P<0.001; second day: w = 5.5·e^−0.1·t, r² = 0.02, N = 177, NS).