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First published online May 8, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, 1798-1803 (2007)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2007
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02768

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Homing strategies of the Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti I. Proportional path-integration takes the ant half-way home

Ajay Narendra

Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia

View larger version (16K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Experimental set-up. Ants reached a feeder (F) in three different conditions: by travelling 6 m, 12 m, 20 m and 35 m from the nest (N) in an open field (A); by walking in an L-shaped channel (thick lines), where experimental ants travelled either 6 m (B) or 3 m (C) on the second leg and the control ants travelled only the first leg of the journey; and by travelling in linear outbound channels of 6 m and 12 m (D). In A–C, ants that picked up a cookie crumb were displaced to the test field where their paths were recorded. In D, ants that picked up a cookie crumb were captured and displaced to the end of the 30 m test channel, where their distance estimate was measured. Thin lines with arrows show the displacement of ants from the feeder either to a release point (R) in the test field or to the test channel. Note: figures not to scale.

View larger version (22K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Path-integration in Melophorus bagoti ants. (A) Homebound orientation of ants with outbound distance of 6 m (=1.22°, r=0.89, N=128), 12 m (=7.62°, r=0.98, N=80), 20 m (=1.34°, r=0.99, N=40) and 35 m (=3.21°, r=0.99, N=40), when released in the test field. Home direction=0°. The mean vector direction is indicated by the grey arrow. The length of the arrow represents r. (B) Distance path-integrated (means ± s.e.m.) by ants at nest-feeder distances of 6 m (N=128), 12 m (N=80), 20 m (N=40) and 35 m (N=40) in the open field. (C) Homebound distance travelled by ants in linear channels (means ± s.e.m.) with an outbound distance of 6 m (N=24) and 12 m (N=24).

View larger version (19K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Path-integration of ants in L-shaped channels. Orientation and distance travelled by ants from the 6 mx6 m condition (A–C), and 6 mx3 m condition (D–F). Orientation of (A) experimental ants (6 mx6 m: =319.52°, r=0.96, N=30) and (B) control ants (6 m: =356.82°, r=0.98, N=16) that travelled only the first leg. Orientation of (D) experimental ants (6 mx3 m: =343.71°, r=0.95, N=30) that travelled a two leg trajectory and (E) control ants (6 m: =2.0°, r=0.98, N=18) that travelled only the first leg. Home direction is shown by the arrowhead outside the semi-circle. The mean vector direction is indicated by the grey arrow. r is represented by the length of the arrow. Distance path-integrated (means ± s.e.m.) by ants from experimental and control groups of the 6 mx6 m (C) and 6 mx3 m (F) conditions are shown.