Level locomotion in wood ants: evidence for grounded running
Level locomotion in wood ants: evidence for grounded running
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DOI：
10.1242/jeb.098426
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发表时间：
2014-07-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
Blickhan, Reinhard
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Reinhardt, Lars;Blickhan, Reinhard
为了更好地了解小昆虫的运动策略，我们研究了木蚁物种多齿蚁的连续水平运动。利用自行研制的测试场地，测定了步态周期内的三维质心运动学，并记录了单腿的地面反作用力。我们的发现表明，这些动物在很大的速度范围内使用了相同的步态动力学，而不会消除三脚架的步态模式。为了达到更高的速度，蚂蚁按比例增加了步长和步频。质心能量学表明了一种跳跃的步态，在这种步态中，水平动能和引力势能在近阶段波动。我们确定了高度的顺应性，特别是在前腿，因为在接触阶段，有效腿的长度几乎减半。这导致身体只有很小的垂直摆动，这对保持地面接触很重要。在小型跑步者中，没有空中相位的弹跳步态似乎是一种常见的策略，可以用两足弹簧加载的倒立摆模型来充分描述。因此，根据我们的研究结果，我们提供了木蚁进行“接地奔跑”的证据。
In order to better understand the strategies of locomotion in small insects, we have studied continuous level locomotion of the wood ant species Formica polyctena. We determined the three-dimensional centre of mass kinematics during the gait cycle and recorded the ground reaction forces of single legs utilising a self-developed test site. Our findings show that the animals used the same gait dynamics across a wide speed range without dissolving the tripodal stride pattern. To achieve higher velocities, the ants proportionally increased stride length and stepping frequency. The centre of mass energetics indicated a bouncing gait, in which horizontal kinetic and gravitational potential energy fluctuated in close phase. We determined a high degree of compliance especially in the front legs, as the effective leg length was nearly halved during the contact phase. This leads to only small vertical oscillations of the body, which are important in maintaining ground contact. Bouncing gaits without aerial phases seem to be a common strategy in small runners and can be sufficiently described by the bipedal spring-loaded inverted pendulum model. Thus, with our results, we provide evidence that wood ants perform 'grounded running'.