Multimodal interactions in insect navigation

Buehlmann, Cornelia; Mangan, Michael; Graham, Paul

doi:10.1007/s10071-020-01383-2

Cited by 90 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 196 publications

(211 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…It would therefore be interesting to analyse whether the active vision strategies, pivoting or motion parallax, are present to a different extent when the visual surroundings are more complex. In addition to visual information, natural environments provide other sensory cues that could be relevant while pinpointing and learning the nest-hole (Buehlmann et al, 2020 ; Vega Vermehren et al, 2020 ). One possibility might be an odor plume emanating from the nest-hole, as described in ants using an odor vector in combination to path-integration (Buehlmann et al, 2012 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Critical Role of Head Movements for Spatial Representation During Bumblebees Learning Flight

Doussot

Bertrand

Egelhaaf

2021

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bumblebees perform complex flight maneuvers around the barely visible entrance of their nest upon their first departures. During these flights bees learn visual information about the surroundings, possibly including its spatial layout. They rely on this information to return home. Depth information can be derived from the apparent motion of the scenery on the bees' retina. This motion is shaped by the animal's flight and orientation: Bees employ a saccadic flight and gaze strategy, where rapid turns of the head (saccades) alternate with flight segments of apparently constant gaze direction (intersaccades). When during intersaccades the gaze direction is kept relatively constant, the apparent motion contains information about the distance of the animal to environmental objects, and thus, in an egocentric reference frame. Alternatively, when the gaze direction rotates around a fixed point in space, the animal perceives the depth structure relative to this pivot point, i.e., in an allocentric reference frame. If the pivot point is at the nest-hole, the information is nest-centric. Here, we investigate in which reference frames bumblebees perceive depth information during their learning flights. By precisely tracking the head orientation, we found that half of the time, the head appears to pivot actively. However, only few of the corresponding pivot points are close to the nest entrance. Our results indicate that bumblebees perceive visual information in several reference frames when they learn about the surroundings of a behaviorally relevant location.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Critical Role of Head Movements for Spatial Representation During Bumblebees Learning Flight

Doussot

Bertrand

Egelhaaf

2021

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, on days when the wind direction showed a strong change away from the prevailing direction, we do see significant disturbance to outwards paths. Assuming that a significant proportion of the disturbed ants were experienced individuals, it suggests that wind cues are part of the multimodal suite of cues used to guide routes (Buehlmann et al 2020 ), rather than simply a temporary scaffold during learning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodal influences on learning walks in desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis)

Vermehren¹,

Buehlmann

Fernandes

et al. 2020

J Comp Physiol A

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ants are excellent navigators using multimodal information for navigation. To accurately localise the nest at the end of a foraging journey, visual cues, wind direction and also olfactory cues need to be learnt. Learning walks are performed at the start of an ant’s foraging career or when the appearance of the nest surrounding has changed. We investigated here whether the structure of such learning walks in the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis takes into account wind direction in conjunction with the learning of new visual information. Ants learnt to travel back and forth between their nest and a feeder, and we then introduced a black cylinder near their nest to induce learning walks in regular foragers. By doing this across days with different wind directions, we were able to probe how ants balance different sensory modalities. We found that (1) the ants’ outwards headings are influenced by the wind direction with their routes deflected such that they will arrive downwind of their target, (2) a novel object along the route induces learning walks in experienced ants and (3) the structure of learning walks is shaped by the wind direction rather than the position of the visual cue. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00359-020-01431-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

“…However, on days when the wind direction 260 showed a strong change away from the prevailing direction, we do see significant disturbance to 261 outwards paths. Assuming that a significant proportion of the disturbed ants were experienced 262 individuals, it suggests that wind cues are part of the multimodal suite of cues used to guide routes 263 (Buehlmann et al, 2020), rather than simply a temporary scaffold.…”

Section: Structure Of Learning Walks Is Shaped By the Wind Direction 181mentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodal Influences on Learning Walks in Desert Ants (Cataglyphis fortis)

Vermehren¹,

Buehlmann

Fernandes

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

15Ants are excellent navigators taking into account multimodal sensory information as they move through 16 the world. To be able to accurately localise the nest at the end of a foraging journey, visual cues, wind 17 direction and also olfactory cues need to be learnt. Learning walks are performed at the start of an ant's 18 foraging career or when the appearance of the nest surrounding has changed. We investigated here 19 whether the structure of such learning walks in the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis takes into account wind 20 direction in conjunction with the learning of new visual information. Ants learnt to travel back and forth 21 between their nest and a feeder, and we then introduced a black cylinder near their nest to induce 22 learning walks in regular foragers. By doing this across days with different prevailing wind directions, 23we were able to probe how ants balance the influence of different sensory modalities. We found that (i) 24 the ants' outwards headings are influenced by the direction of the wind with their routes deflected in 25 such a way that they will arrive downwind of their nest when homing, (ii) a novel object along the route 26 induces learning walks in experienced ants and (iii) the structure of learning walks is shaped by the 27 wind direction rather than the position of the visual cue. 28 29 266 This project was funded by the people programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's 267 Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013, under REA grant agreement no. PIEF-GA-2013-268 301624765) to CB. PG is additionally funded by a BBSRC grant BB/R005036/1 and EPSRC grant 269 EP/P006094/1 and CB is additionally funded by a BBSRC grant BB/R005036/1. JAVV was hosted 270 within the Brains on Board project.

show abstract

Multimodal interactions in insect navigation

Cited by 90 publications

References 196 publications

The Critical Role of Head Movements for Spatial Representation During Bumblebees Learning Flight

The Critical Role of Head Movements for Spatial Representation During Bumblebees Learning Flight

Multimodal influences on learning walks in desert ants (Cataglyphis fortis)

Multimodal Influences on Learning Walks in Desert Ants (Cataglyphis fortis)

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About