Homing distance in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, remains unaffected by disturbance of walking behaviour and visual input
Homing distance in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, remains unaffected by disturbance of walking behaviour and visual input
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jphysparis.2012.08.002
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发表时间：
2013-01-01
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Wolf, Harald
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wittlinger, Matthias;Wolf, Harald
沙漠蚂蚁通过步幅积分器以及在较小程度上通过光流积分来测量步行距离。在目前的实验中，我们试图干扰步幅积分和光流输入，以揭示两种里程计模式之间可能的相互作用以及步幅积分器的进一步功能细节。我们试图通过截肢六条步行腿中的两条来削弱步幅积分。左中后腿和右后腿的截肢造成的影响尤其严重，因为它只留下右前腿在交替使用的支撑三脚架之一上。我们试图通过覆盖两个腹侧眼半部来削弱光流输入（在较小程度上用于距离估计）。这两组操作结合起来进行，以研究可能的补偿效应，例如，在步幅积分器受损的情况下，光流输入的影响。出乎意料的是，我们进行的所有操作都对归巢性能没有显着影响。对于归巢距离估计（由蚂蚁巢搜索的中心确定）和归巢确定性（由搜索范围确定）来说，情况确实如此。这些结果证实了通过步幅整合进行里程计的令人惊讶的鲁棒性，并且它们表明腿部本体感觉反馈用于步幅整合。光流输入和步幅积分可能相互作用的问题仍然悬而未决。 (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. 保留所有权利。
Desert ants gauge walking distance by means of a stride integrator and, to a minor extent, by optic flow integration. With the present experiments we attempt to interfere with both, stride integration and optic flow input in order to reveal possible interactions of the two modes of odometry and further functional details of the stride integrator.We tried to impair stride integration by amputating two of the six walking legs. Amputation of left middle and right hind legs had especially severe effects since it left only the right front leg in one of the support tripods that are alternately used in walking. We tried to impair optic flow input - which is used for distance estimation to a minor extent - by covering both ventral eye halves. These two sets of manipulations were carried out in combination to study possible compensatory effects, for instance, of optic flow input in the case of an impaired stride integrator.Unexpectedly, none of the manipulations we carried out had significant effects on homing performance. This was true with regard to homing distance estimation (as determined by the centres of the ants' nest searches) and homing certainty (as determined by the search spreads). These results corroborate the surprising robustness of odometly by stride integration, and they indicate that leg proprioceptive feedback is used for stride integration. The question of a possible interaction of optic flow input and stride integration remains open. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.