Honeybees' speed depends on dorsal as well as lateral, ventral and frontal optic flows.

ABSTRACT: Flying insects use the optic flow to navigate safely in unfamiliar environments, especially by adjusting their speed and their clearance from surrounding objects. It has not yet been established, however, which specific parts of the optical flow field insects use to control their speed. With a view to answering this question, freely flying honeybees were trained to fly along a specially designed tunnel including two successive tapering parts: the first part was tapered in the vertical plane and the second one, in the horizontal plane. The honeybees were found to adjust their speed on the basis of the optic flow they perceived not only in the lateral and ventral parts of their visual field, but also in the dorsal part. More specifically, the honeybees' speed varied monotonically, depending

SUBMITTER: Portelli G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3093387 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature