Self-organization was introduced originally in the context of physics
and chemistry to describe how microscopic processes give rise to macro
scopic structures in out-of-equilibrium systems. Recent research that
extends this concept to ethology suggests that it provides a concise d
escription of a wide range of collective phenomena in animals, especia
lly in social insects. This description does not rely on individual co
mplexity to account for complex spatiotemporal features that emerge at
the colony level, but rather assumes that interactions among simple i
ndividuals can produce highly structured collective behaviours.