The Effect of Trail Pheromone and Path Confinement on Learning of Complex Routes in the Ant Lasius niger.

ABSTRACT: Route learning is key to the survival of many central place foragers, such as bees and many ants. For ants which lay pheromone trails, the presence of a trail may act as an important source of information about whether an error has been made. The presence of trail pheromone has been demonstrated to support route learning, and the effect of pheromones on route choice have been reported to persist even after the pheromones have been removed. This could be explained in two ways: the pheromone may constrain the ants onto the correct route, thus preventing errors and aiding learning. Alternatively, the pheromones may act as a 'reassurance', signalling that the learner is on the right path and that learning the path is worthwhile. Here, we disentangle pheromone presence from route confinement in

SUBMITTER: Czaczkes TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4784821 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature