Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074, Würzburg, Germany.
Learn Behav. 2024 Mar;52(1):85-91. doi: 10.3758/s13420-023-00613-0. Epub 2023 Nov 20.
Desert ant foragers are well known for their visual navigation abilities, relying on visual cues in the environment to find their way along routes back to the nest. If the inconspicuous nest entrance is missed, ants engage in a highly structured systematic search until it is discovered. Searching ants continue to be guided by visual cues surrounding the nest, from which they derive a location estimate. The precision level of this estimate depends on the information content of the nest panorama. This study examines whether search precision is also affected by the directional distribution of visual information. The systematic searching behavior of ants is examined under laboratory settings. Two different visual scenarios are compared - a balanced one where visual information is evenly distributed, and an unbalanced one where all visual information is located on one side of an experimental arena. The identity and number of visual objects is similar over both conditions. The ants search with comparable precision in both conditions. Even in the visually unbalanced condition, searches are characterized by balanced precision on both sides of the arena. This finding lends support to the idea that ants memorize the visual scenery at the nest as panoramic views from different locations. A searching ant is thus able to estimate its location with equal precision in all directions, leading to symmetrical search paths.
沙漠蚁觅食者以其视觉导航能力而闻名，它们依靠环境中的视觉线索找到返回巢穴的路线。如果不显眼的巢穴入口被错过，蚂蚁会进行高度结构化的系统搜索，直到找到为止。搜索蚂蚁继续受到巢周围视觉线索的引导，从中得出位置估计。该估计的精度水平取决于巢全景的信息量。本研究检查搜索精度是否也受到视觉信息的方向分布的影响。在实验室环境下检查蚂蚁的系统搜索行为。比较了两种不同的视觉场景——一种是视觉信息均匀分布的平衡场景，另一种是所有视觉信息都位于实验场地一侧的不平衡场景。两种情况下的视觉物体的身份和数量相似。蚂蚁在两种情况下的搜索精度相当。即使在视觉不平衡的情况下，搜索也以场地两侧的平衡精度为特征。这一发现支持了蚂蚁将巢穴的视觉场景作为来自不同位置的全景视图进行记忆的观点。因此，搜索蚂蚁能够以相同的精度在所有方向上估计其位置，从而导致对称的搜索路径。
