The ant's estimation of distance travelled:: experiments with desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis
The ant's estimation of distance travelled:: experiments with desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis
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DOI：
10.1007/s00359-003-0465-4
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发表时间：
2004-01-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Wehner, R
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Sommer, S;Wehner, R
觅食的沙漠蚂蚁，Cataglyphis fortis，通过路径整合来监测它们相对于巢穴的位置。他们不断更新的方向和距离的巢采用天体罗盘和里程表。在目前的帐户中，我们解决的问题是如何精确的蚂蚁的估计其归巢距离取决于旅行的距离。我们训练蚂蚁在不同距离的线性通道，包括一个巢入口和一个馈线觅食。为了测试，我们在喂食器上捕捉蚂蚁，并将它们释放到平行通道中。结果表明，蚂蚁往往低估了它们行进的距离。这种低估越明显，觅食距离越大。训练距离和蚂蚁对该距离的估计之间的定量关系可以用对数和指数模型来描述。蚂蚁的里程不足可能在自然觅食旅行中具有适应性，因为它导致寻巢蚂蚁将其巢穴搜索行为的大部分集中在其单独觅食区域的基础上，即其熟悉的地标走廊上。
Foraging desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, monitor their position relative to the nest by path integration. They continually update the direction and distance to the nest by employing a celestial compass and an odometer. In the present account we addressed the question of how the precision of the ant's estimate of its homing distance depends on the distance travelled. We trained ants to forage at different distances in linear channels comprising a nest entrance and a feeder. For testing we caught ants at the feeder and released them in a parallel channel. The results show that ants tend to underestimate their distances travelled. This underestimation is the more pronounced, the larger the foraging distance gets. The quantitative relationship between training distance and the ant's estimate of this distance can be described by a logarithmic and an exponential model. The ant's odometric undershooting could be adaptive during natural foraging trips insofar as it leads the homing ant to concentrate the major part of its nest-search behaviour on the base of its individual foraging sector, i.e. on its familiar landmark corridor.