Walking on inclines: how do desert ants monitor slope and step length.

ABSTRACT:

Background

During long-distance foraging in almost featureless habitats desert ants of the genus Cataglyphis employ path-integrating mechanisms (vector navigation). This navigational strategy requires an egocentric monitoring of the foraging path by incrementally integrating direction, distance, and inclination of the path. Monitoring the latter two parameters involves idiothetic cues and hence is tightly coupled to the ant's locomotor behavior.

Results

In a kinematic study of desert ant locomotion performed on differently inclined surfaces we aimed at pinpointing the relevant mechanisms of estimating step length and inclination. In a behavioral experiment with ants foraging on slippery surfaces we broke the otherwise tightly coupled relationship between stepping frequency a

SUBMITTER: Seidl T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2430559 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature