Nest-mark orientation versus vector navigation in desert ants
Nest-mark orientation versus vector navigation in desert ants
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DOI：
10.1242/jeb.018036
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发表时间：
2008-06-15
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Wehner, Ruediger
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bregy, Patrick;Sommer, Stefan;Wehner, Ruediger
觅食的蚂蚁和蜜蜂使用路径整合向量和地标线索进行导航。当在特定的实验范例中，两种类型的信息——基于矢量的信息和基于地标的信息——相互竞争时，昆虫可能会根据导航环境和动物的动机状态更看重其中一种来源。本文研究了移位的巢标对巨形蚁归巢行为的影响。觅食者被训练在巢穴（由一个黑色圆柱体（信标）标记）和一个人工喂食器之间穿梭。训练有素的蚂蚁在喂食器处被捕获，并被转移到一个遥远的试验场，在那里它们经历了相对于它们的家园向量的不同位置的巢穴标记。当信标被放置在释放点的一侧时，蚂蚁在它们的入站运行开始时轻微地向信标漂移，但此后又恢复了它们的回家向量路线。当巢标出现在回家路线的另一边时，蚂蚁就朝着回家的方向出发，但随后逐渐向信标漂去。在不同的测试条件下，发生这种情况的距离，以及蚂蚁从家园载体路线的漂移是非常相似的。在蚁群的最终寻巢过程中，路标信息主导了蚁群的路径整合器。结果清楚地表明，巢标记忆在整个向量归巢过程中是有效的，但除非蚂蚁路径积分器的状态接近于零，否则它们要么部分被激活，要么部分被使用。
Foraging ants and bees use path-integration vectors and landmark cues for navigation. When in particular experimental paradigms the two types of information - vector-based and landmark-based information - are made to compete with each other, the insect may weight either source more heavily depending on the navigational context and the animal's motivational state. Here we studied the effects of a displaced nest mark on the homing performances of Cataglyphis ants. Foragers were trained to shuttle between the nest, which was marked by a black cylinder ( the beacon), and an artificial feeder. Trained ants were captured at the feeder and transferred to a distant test field, where they experienced the nest mark at various positions relative to their home vector. When the beacon was positioned to one side of the point of release, the ants slightly drifted towards the beacon right at the start of their inbound run, but thereafter resumed their home-vector courses. When the nest mark appeared to one side further down the homing course, the ants set off in the home-vector direction, but then gradually drifted towards the beacon. The distance, at which this occurred, and the ants' drift from the home-vector course were very similar across test conditions. During the final search for the nest, landmark information dominated the ants' path integrator. The results clearly show that nest-mark memories are effective during the entire vector-based homeward course, but that they are either only partly activated or partly used unless the state of the ants' path integrator is close to zero.