scholarly journals Ontogeny of learning walks and the acquisition of landmark information in desert ants,Cataglyphis fortis

2016 ◽  
Vol 219 (19) ◽  
pp. 3137-3145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline N. Fleischmann ◽  
Marcelo Christian ◽  
Valentin L. Müller ◽  
Wolfgang Rössler ◽  
Rüdiger Wehner
Keyword(s):  
Desert Ants ◽  
Learning Walks ◽  
Cataglyphis Fortis

scholarly journals Multimodal influences on learning walks in desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis)

2020 ◽  
Vol 206 (5) ◽  
pp. 701-709
Author(s):  
Jose Adrian Vega Vermehren ◽  
Cornelia Buehlmann ◽  
Ana Sofia David Fernandes ◽  
Paul Graham
Keyword(s):  
Desert Ants ◽  
Learning Walks ◽  
Cataglyphis Fortis

scholarly journals Smells like home: Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, use olfactory landmarks to pinpoint the nest

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathrin Steck ◽  
Bill S Hansson ◽  
Markus Knaden
Keyword(s):  
Desert Ants ◽  
Cataglyphis Fortis

Homing distance in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, remains unaffected by disturbance of walking behaviour and visual input

2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 130-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Wittlinger ◽  
Harald Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Visual Input ◽  
Desert Ants ◽  
Cataglyphis Fortis

Pinpointing food sources: olfactory and anemotactic orientation in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis

2000 ◽  
Vol 203 (5) ◽  
pp. 857-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Wolf ◽  
R. Wehner
Keyword(s):  
Food Source ◽  
Video Tracking ◽  
Food Sources ◽  
Integration Scheme ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Feeding Site ◽  
Desert Ants ◽  
Feeding Station ◽  
Visually Based ◽  
Cataglyphis Fortis

Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, search for a repeatedly visited food source by employing a combined olfactory and anemotactic orientation strategy (in addition to their visually based path-integration scheme). This behaviour was investigated by video-tracking consecutive foraging trips of individually marked ants under a variety of experimental conditions, including manipulations of the olfactory and wind-detecting systems of the ants. If the wind blows from a constant direction, ants familiar with the feeding site follow outbound paths that lead them into an area 0.5-2.5 m downwind of the feeding station. Here, the ants apparently pick up odour plumes emanating from the food source and follow these by steering an upwind course until they reach the feeder. If the food is removed, foragers usually concentrate their search movements within the area downwind of the feeding site. Only when the wind happens to subside or when tail-wind conditions prevail do the ants steer direct courses towards the food. Elimination of olfactory input by clipping the antennal flagella, or of wind perception by immobilising the bases of the antennae, altered the foraging behaviour of the ants in ways that supported these interpretations. Ants with clipped flagella were never observed to collect food items.

scholarly journals Path integration in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis

1988 ◽  
Vol 85 (14) ◽  
pp. 5287-5290 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Muller ◽  
R. Wehner
Keyword(s):  
Path Integration ◽  
Desert Ants ◽  
Cataglyphis Fortis

scholarly journals Estimation of homing distance in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, remains unaffected by disturbance of walking behaviour

2009 ◽  
Vol 212 (18) ◽  
pp. 2893-2901 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Steck ◽  
M. Wittlinger ◽  
H. Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Desert Ants ◽  
Cataglyphis Fortis

scholarly journals Egocentric information helps desert ants to navigate around familiar obstacles

2001 ◽  
Vol 204 (24) ◽  
pp. 4177-4184
Author(s):  
Sonja Bisch-Knaden ◽  
Rüdiger Wehner
Keyword(s):  
Test Area ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Visual Guidance ◽  
Directional Information ◽  
Visual Cue ◽  
Desert Ants ◽  
Constant Angle ◽  
Nesting Sites ◽  
Cataglyphis Fortis ◽  
Local Cues

SUMMARY Homing ants have been shown to associate directional information with familiar landmarks. The sight of these local cues might either directly guide the path of the ant or it might activate a landmark-based vector that points towards the goal position. In either case, the ants define their courses within allocentric systems of reference. Here, we show that desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, forced to run along a devious path can use egocentric information as well. The ants were trained to deviate from their straight homebound course by a wide inconspicuous barrier that was placed between the feeding and nesting sites. At a distant test area, the ants were confronted with an identical barrier rotated through 45°. After passing the edge of the obstacle, the ants did not proceed in the trained direction, defined by the skylight compass, but rotated their courses to match the rotation of the barrier. Visual guidance could be excluded because, as soon as the ants turned around the end of the barrier, the visual cue it provided vanished from their field of view. Instead, the ants must have maintained a constant angle relative to their previous walking trajectory along the obstacle and, hence, must have determined their new vector course in an egocentric way.

Lateral optic flow does not influence distance estimation in the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis

2000 ◽  
Vol 203 (7) ◽  
pp. 1113-1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Ronacher ◽  
K. Gallizzi ◽  
S. Wohlgemuth ◽  
R. Wehner
Keyword(s):  
Flow Field ◽  
Optic Flow ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Motion Parallax ◽  
Distance Estimation ◽  
Desert Ants ◽  
Desert Ant ◽  
Walking Speeds ◽  
Cataglyphis Fortis

The present account answers the question of whether desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis) gauge the distance they have travelled by using self-induced lateral optic-flow parameters, as has been described for bees. The ants were trained to run to a distant food source within a channel whose walls were covered with black-and-white gratings. From the food source, they were transferred to test channels of double or half the training width, and the distance they travelled before searching for home and their walking speeds were recorded. Since the animals experience different motion parallax cues when walking in the broader or narrower channels, the optic-flow hypothesis predicted that the ants would walk faster and further in the broader channels, but more slowly and less far in the narrower channels. In contrast to this expectation, neither the walking speeds nor the searching distances depended on the width or height of the channels or on the pattern wavelengths. Even when ventral-field visual cues were excluded by covering the eyes with light-tight paint, the ants were not influenced by lateral optic flow-field cues. Hence, walking desert ants do not depend on self-induced visual flow-field cues in gauging the distance they have travelled, as do flying honeybees, but can measure locomotor distance exclusively by idiothetic means.

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