Path integration controls nest-plume following in desert ants

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Path integration controls nest-plume following in desert ants Cornelia Buehlmann1*, Bill S. Hansson1 and Markus Knaden1 1 Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Evolutionary Neuroethology, Germany The desert ant Cataglyphis fortis is equipped with sophisticated navigational skills for returning to its nest after foraging. The ant’s primary means for long-distance navigation is path integration, which provides a continuous readout of the ant’s approximate distance and direction from the nest. The nest is pinpointed additionally with the aid of landmarks. Here we show that homing ants move upwind along nest-derived odor plumes to approach their nest. The ants only respond to odor plumes if the state of their path integrator tells them that they are near the nest. This influence of path integration is important because we could experimentally provoke ants to follow odor plumes from a foreign, conspecific nest and enter that nest. We identified CO2 as one nest-plume component that can by itself induce plume following in homing ants. Taken together, the results suggest that path-integration information enables ants to avoid entering the wrong nest, where they would inevitably be killed by resident ants. This project was supported by the Max Planck Society. Keywords: Cataglyphis, Desert ants, Landmark guidance, navigation, Olfaction, path integration, Plume following Conference: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park. Maryland USA, United States, 5 Aug - 10 Aug, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster (but consider for participant symposium and student poster award) Topic: Orientation and Navigation Citation: Buehlmann C, Hansson BS and Knaden M (2012). Path integration controls nest-plume following in desert ants. Conference Abstract: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00080 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 30 Mar 2012; Published Online: 07 Jul 2012. * Correspondence: Miss. Cornelia Buehlmann, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Evolutionary Neuroethology, Jena, 07745, Germany, cbuehlmann@ice.mpg.de Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Cornelia Buehlmann Bill S Hansson Markus Knaden Google Cornelia Buehlmann Bill S Hansson Markus Knaden Google Scholar Cornelia Buehlmann Bill S Hansson Markus Knaden PubMed Cornelia Buehlmann Bill S Hansson Markus Knaden Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.