Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The effect of spatially restricted experience on extrapolating learned views in desert ants, Melophorus bagoti

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Animal Cognition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Desert ants are known for learning walks at the beginning of their foraging life, during which they learn terrestrial cues of the panorama and surrounding landmarks around their nest. Foragers retain memories of the visual cues of the nest panorama learned during the pre-foraging trials. When away from the nest, they can compare these stored views with their current vision to return to their nest. In this study we investigated whether spatially restricted foraging ants can extrapolate their memory of visual cues to unexperienced sites. We carried out two conditions to examine whether desert ants extrapolate learned views. In the first condition, naïve ants of Melophorus bagoti were restricted to a nest arena 1 m in radius with a 10 cm high wall (wall condition) for 3 days, then released at distant locations on the fourth day and focal individuals return trips were recorded. In the second condition, a 10 cm sunken metallic barrier was constructed around the nest (moat condition) and the restricted foragers that viewed the unrestricted visual panorama around the 1 m-radius nest arena were then displaced away from the nest as in the wall condition. In the wall condition, most of the ants were unable to orient in the correct heading towards the home direction. In the moat condition ants were able to correctly orient to the nest from displacement sites up to 8 m from the nest. We conclude that while travelling to unfamiliar sites, M. bagoti ants can extrapolate views learned from foraging in a restricted area when given unrestricted views.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andel D, Wehner R (2004) Path integration in desert ants, Cataglyphis: how to make a homing ant run away from home. Proc Biol Sci 271(1547):1485–1489

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Baddeley B, Graham P, Philippides A, Husbands P (2011) Holistic visual encoding of ant-like routes: navigation without waypoints. Adapt Behav 19(1):3–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheng K, Narendra A, Sommer S, Wehner R (2009) Traveling in clutter: navigation in the Central Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti. Behav Process 80(3):261–268

    Google Scholar 

  • Collett M (2010) How desert ants use a visual landmark for guidance along a habitual route. Proc Natl Acad Sci 107(25):11638–11643

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Collett M, Collett TS (2000) How do insects use path integration for their navigation? Biol Cybern 83(3):245–259

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Collett TS, Collett M, Wehner R (2001) The guidance of desert ants by extended landmarks. J Exp Biol 204(Pt 9):1635–1639

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Collett TS, Graham P, Harris RA, Hempel-de-Ibarra N (2006) Navigational memories in ants and bees: memory retrieval when selecting and following routes. Adv Stud Behav 36:123–172

    Google Scholar 

  • Collett TS, Graham P, Harris RA (2007) Novel landmark-guided routes in ants. J Exp Biol 210:2025–2032

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fleischmann PN, Christian M, Müller VL, Rossler W, Wehner R (2016) Ontogeny of learning walks and the acquisition of landmark information in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis. J Exp Biol 219(Pt 19):3137–3145

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fleischmann PN, Grob R, Wehner R, Rossler W (2017) Species-specific differences in the fine structure of learning walk elements in Cataglyphis ants. J Exp Biol 220(Pt 13):2426–2435

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fleischmann PN, Rossler W, Wehner R (2018) Early foraging life: spatial and temporal aspects of landmark learning in the ant Cataglyphis noda. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 204(6):579–592

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Freas CA, Cheng K (2018) Landmark learning, cue conflict, and outbound view sequence in navigating desert ants. J Exp Psychol Anim Learn Cogn 44(4):409–421

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freas CA, Cheng K, Tregenza T (2017) Learning and time-dependent cue choice in the desert ant, Melophorus bagoti (Report). Ethology 123(8):503

    Google Scholar 

  • Freas CA, Wystrach A, Narendra A, Cheng K (2018) The view from the trees: nocturnal bull ants, Myrmecia midas, use the surrounding panorama while descending from trees. Front Psychol 9:16

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Freas CA, Fleischmann PN, Cheng K (2019) Experimental ethology of learning in desert ants: becoming expert navigators. Behav Process 158:181–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaussier P, Joulain C, Banquet JP, Leprêtre S, Revel A (2000) The visual homing problem: an example of robotics/biology cross fertilization. Robot Auton Syst 30(1):155–180

    Google Scholar 

  • Graham P, Cheng K (2009a) Ants use the panoramic skyline as a visual cue during navigation. Curr Biol 19(20):R935–937

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Graham P, Cheng K (2009b) Which portion of the natural panorama is used for view-based navigation in the Australian desert ant? J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 195(7):681–689

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jayatilaka P, Murray T, Narendra A, Zeil J (2018) The choreography of learning walks in the Australian jack jumper ant Myrmecia croslandi. J Exp Biol 221:Pt 20

    Google Scholar 

  • Knaden M, Wehner R (2005) Nest mark orientation in desert ants Cataglyphis: what does it do to the path integrator? Anim Behav 70(6):1349–1354

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehrer M (1993) Why do bees turn back and look? J Comp Physiol A 172:549–563

    Google Scholar 

  • Lent DD, Graham P, Collett TS (2013) Visual scene perception in navigating wood ants. Curr Biol 23(8):684–690

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstaedt H, Mittelstaedt M-L (1982) Homing by path integration. Springer, Berlin, pp 290–297

    Google Scholar 

  • Möller R (2012) A model of ant navigation based on visual prediction. J Theor Biol 305:118–130

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Müller M, Wehner R (2010) Path integration provides a scaffold for landmark learning in desert ants. Curr Biol 20(15):1368–1371

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muser B, Sommer S, Wolf H, Wehner R (2005) Foraging ecology of the thermophilic Australian desert ant, Melophorus bagoti. Aust J Zool 53(5):301–311

    Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson D, Judd S, Cartwright BA, Collett T (1999) Learning walks and landmark guidance in wood ants (Formica rufa). J Exp Biol 202(13):1831–1838

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ronacher B (2008) Path integration as the basic navigation mechanism of the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis (Forel, 1902) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecol News 11:53–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultheiss P, Cheng K (2011) Finding the nest: inbound searching behaviour in the Australian desert ant, Melophorus bagoti. Anim Behav 81(5):1031–1038

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultheiss P, Nooten SS (2013) Foraging patterns and strategies in an Australian desert ant. Austral Ecol 38(8):942–951

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultheiss P, Cheng K, Reynolds AM (2015) Searching behavior in social Hymenoptera. Learn Motiv 50:59–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehner R (2003) Desert ant navigation: how miniature brains solve complex tasks. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behave Physiol 189(8):579–588

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wehner R (2008) The desert ant's navigational toolkit: procedural rather than positional knowledge. Navigation 55(2):101–114

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehner R, Müller M (2006) The significance of direct sunlight and polarized skylight in the ant's celestial system of navigation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103(33):12575–12579

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wehner R, Räber F (1979) Visual spatial memory in desert ants, Cataglyphis bicolor (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Experientia 35(12):1569–1571

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehner R, Srinivasan M (1981) Searching behaviour of desert ants, genus Cataglyphis (Formicidae, Hymenoptera). J Comp Physiol 142(3):315–338

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehner R, Srinivasan VM (2003) Path integration in insects. In: Jeffery KJ (ed) The neurobiology of spatial behaviour. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 9–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittlinger M, Wehner R, Wolf H (2006) The ant odometer: stepping on stilts and stumps. Science 312(5782):1965–1967

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wystrach A, Beugnon G, Cheng K (2011a) Landmarks or panoramas: what do navigating ants attend to for guidance? Front Zool 8:21

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Wystrach A, Schwarz S, Schultheiss P, Beugnon G, Cheng K (2011b) Views, landmarks, and routes: how do desert ants negotiate an obstacle course? J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 197(2):167–179

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wystrach A, Beugnon G, Cheng K (2012) Ants might use different view-matching strategies on and off the route. J Exp Biol 215(Pt 1):44

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wystrach A, Schwarz S, Schultheiss P, Baniel A, Cheng K (2014) Multiple sources of celestial compass information in the Central Australian desertant Melophorus bagoti. J Comp Physiol A 200:591–601. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-014-0899-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeil J (2012) Visual homing: an insect perspective. Curr Opin Neurobiol 22(2):285–293

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zeil J, Hoffmann MI, Chahl JS (2003) Catchment areas of panoramic images in outdoor scenes. J Opt Soc Am A 20:450–469

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeil J, Narendra A, Stürzl W (2014) Looking and homing: how displaced ants decide where to go. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 369(1636):20130034

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the Centre for Appropriate Technology at Alice Springs, Australia for letting us work on their property and providing some storage space, and the CSIRO Arid Zone Research at Alice Springs for administrative support. This research was supported by a Grant from the Australian Research Council (DP 1598700) and by Macquarie University. We are also thankful to the open recruitment for international exchange program, Program to Support Young Leaders HR Development at the Institute for Global Prominent Research (IGPR), Chiba University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia

    Sudhakar Deeti & Ken Cheng

  2. Graduate School of Advanced Integration Science, Chiba University, Chiba, 263-8522, Japan

    Kazuki Fujii

Authors
  1. Sudhakar Deeti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kazuki Fujii
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ken Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Experiments conceived and designed by SD and KC. SD and KF carried out experimentation and collected data. SD and KC drafted and revised the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sudhakar Deeti.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing or financial interests.

Ethics standards

Australia has no ethical regulations regarding work with insects. The study was non-invasive and no long-term aversive effects were found on the nests or on the individuals studied.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Special Issue: Arthropod Cognition.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Deeti, S., Fujii, K. & Cheng, K. The effect of spatially restricted experience on extrapolating learned views in desert ants, Melophorus bagoti. Anim Cogn 23, 1063–1070 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-020-01359-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-020-01359-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation