Ronacher B, Gallizzi K, Wohlgemuth S, Wehner R
Department of Biology, Humboldt-University, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10099 Berlin, Germany and Department of Zoology, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH 8057 Zürich, Switzerland. Bernhard=
J Exp Biol. 2000 Apr;203(Pt 7):1113-21. doi: 10.1242/jeb.203.7.1113.
The present account answers the question of whether desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis) gauge the distance they have travelled by using self-induced lateral optic-flow parameters, as has been described for bees. The ants were trained to run to a distant food source within a channel whose walls were covered with black-and-white gratings. From the food source, they were transferred to test channels of double or half the training width, and the distance they travelled before searching for home and their walking speeds were recorded. Since the animals experience different motion parallax cues when walking in the broader or narrower channels, the optic-flow hypothesis predicted that the ants would walk faster and further in the broader channels, but more slowly and less far in the narrower channels. In contrast to this expectation, neither the walking speeds nor the searching distances depended on the width or height of the channels or on the pattern wavelengths. Even when ventral-field visual cues were excluded by covering the eyes with light-tight paint, the ants were not influenced by lateral optic flow-field cues. Hence, walking desert ants do not depend on self-induced visual flow-field cues in gauging the distance they have travelled, as do flying honeybees, but can measure locomotor distance exclusively by idiothetic means.
本研究回答了沙漠蚂蚁（猫蚁）是否像蜜蜂那样通过利用自身诱导的侧向光流参数来测量行进距离这一问题。这些蚂蚁被训练在一条通道内跑到远处的食物源，通道壁上覆盖着黑白光栅。从食物源出发，它们被转移到训练宽度两倍或一半的测试通道，记录它们在寻找巢穴前行进的距离以及行走速度。由于动物在较宽或较窄的通道中行走时会经历不同的运动视差线索，光流假说预测蚂蚁在较宽的通道中会走得更快更远，但在较窄的通道中会走得更慢且距离更近。与这一预期相反，行走速度和寻找距离均不取决于通道的宽度或高度，也不取决于图案波长。即使通过用不透光的颜料覆盖眼睛来排除腹侧视野视觉线索，蚂蚁也不受侧向光流场线索的影响。因此，行走的沙漠蚂蚁在测量行进距离时并不像飞行的蜜蜂那样依赖自身诱导的视觉流场线索，而是完全可以通过本体感受方式来测量运动距离。
