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Visual Input and Path Stabilization in Walking Ants Edinburgh Research Explorer Visual input and path stabilization in walking ants Citation for published version: Schwarz, S & Wystrach, A 2011, 'Visual input and path stabilization in walking ants', Communicative and Integrative Biology, vol. 4, no. 6, pp. 758-60. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3306352/> Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Published In: Communicative and Integrative Biology General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 30. Sep. 2021 Communicative & Integrative Biology 4:6, 758-760; November/December 2011; ©2011 Landes Bioscience Visual input and path stabilization in walking ants Sebastian Schwarz* and Antoine Wystrach Department of Biological Sciences; Macquarie University; Sydney, Australia ost animals use vision to navigate is mainly guided by idiothetic informa- Mthe outside world. Eyes are the sen- tion and vision based on celestial (e.g., sory organs for visual perception and can polarized skylight, sun’s position) and vary in their form, structure and func- terrestrial cues (e.g., landmarks, skyline tion to suit the visual requirement of the contour).5 Compound eyes and the three individual species. In insects, mainly ocelli represent the sensory organs for the the two compound eyes but also the visual input. It is known that compound less-conspicuous ocelli are in charge for eyes can read celestial compass cues for visual input. Much knowledge has been path integration in ants. They also pro- obtained about compound eyes but little vide sufficient navigational details of the is known about the role of ocelli in walk- surrounding landmark panorama for ©2011 Landesing insects. Recently it has Bioscience.been shown foraging and homing.6 Far less is known that ant ocelli contribute to encoding about the function of the ocelli in ants. In celestial compass information for hom- flying insects, ocelli detect quickly differ- ing. However, ocelli could not compute ences in light gradients and stabilize the terrestrial cues for navigating back to the gaze and flight via specialized neurons Do notnest. Here wedistribute. focus on further investi- (L-neurons).7,8 In walking insects how- gations on the ants’ paths stabilization ever, it has been demonstrated in desert under different visual input conditions. ants that ocelli can encode celestial com- The pitch and roll stabilization of walk- pass information for navigating back to ing paths seems to be independent of the nest.9 Recently, Schwarz et al.10 tested visual input and controlled by idiot- homing performances of ants with differ- hetic cues. The yaw (meander) stabili- ent visual input conditions. The results zation in walking paths is adjusted for showed that M. bagoti ocelli obtain com- navigational rather than for stabilizing pass information from celestial cues but purposes and depends on at least three cannot encode terrestrial landmark infor- factors: the odometric component of the mation for homing. path integrator (via idiothetic cues), the Here we address the role of the visual Key words: navigation, ants, path stabili- perception of the celestial compass infor- input in walk stabilization. First, neither sation, ocelli, compound eye, Melophorus mation (via ocelli and compound eyes), compound eyes nor ocelli are necessary bagoti and the visual matching of the familiar for steady walks in ants. Even totally Submitted: 08/11/11 route scenery (via the compound eyes). blinded ants could walk readily without Accepted: 08/12/11 any noticeable forward, backward (roll) For central place foragers, such as ants, or sideway (pitch) stumbling and tripping. DOI: 10.4161/cib.4.6.17730 it is necessary and important to find the Thus, it seems that the pitch and roll sta- *Correspondence to: Sebastian Schwarz; way back to the nest after every foraging bilization in ant paths is independent of Email: [email protected] trip. To achieve that, some ant species use the visual input but might be based on mainly chemical trails1,2 but most end up sensory input from the legs. In contrast to Addendum to: Schwarz S, Albert L, Wystrach A, Cheng K. Ocelli contribute to the encod- learning their foraging routes indepen- flying insects, pitch and roll stabilization 3,4 ing of celestial compass information in the dently by relying on visual cues. The is directly associated with the ground sur- Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti. J Exp Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti is face and therefore enables walking insects Biol 2011; 214:901–6; PMID:21346116; DOI:10.1242/ one of these solitary foraging ants.5 While to receive stabilization information from jeb.049262. navigating through its cluttered terrain it the moving legs. Most natural surfaces 758 Communicative & Integrative Biology Volume 4 Issue 6 ARTICLE ADDENDUM Figure 1. Homing path examples of full-vector (FV) and zero-vector (ZV) ants under different visual input conditions (black dot represents the starting point of the path). (A) Released on unfamiliar grounds, blinded ants (Bl) display paths with the highest meander (yaw angle variation) followed by ants with covered compound eyes but open ocelli (Oc). Ants with untreated eyes (Ct) show stable walks with low meander. (B) FV_Bl ants walk straighter paths than ZV_Bl ants from part (A). The odometric component of the path integrator, via idiothetic cues, leads to a less meanderous path. Released on familiar grounds, ZV ants with uncovered compound eyes (Ey) stabilize their yaw angle by using the familiar scenery and perform paths with the lowest©2011 meander among all experimental groups.Landes Bioscience. are uneven or rugged. In order to keep by the dorsal rim area of the compound blind ants and ants with ocelli only can- a proper roll and pitch position it seems eyes or the perception of terrestrial land- not compute terrestrial landmark informa- plausible to rely on the direct information marks although neither information from tion.10 ZV_Ey ants lacked any information of the legs rather than on anDo absolute pitch not the path integrator distribute. nor the familiarity of from the path integrator but displayed and roll stabilization relative to the visual the surrounding were available under this walks with the lowest meander among all scenery, which would lead to complica- experimental condition. test conditions (Fig. 1B, Ey).10 It appears tions in walks on uneven grounds. On the other hand we analyzed the that the familiar visual surrounding pro- What about the yaw stabilization or yaw angle of ant paths with the full infor- vides the best information for yaw angle the level of meander in walking ants? On mation from the path integrator (full- stabilization but only if the match between the one hand we analyzed the yaw angle vector, FV) when released on unfamiliar the current and memorised view is suffi- of ant walks with no information from the grounds. Totally blind ants, ants with ciently correct (Fig. 1B, Ey). Indeed, when path integrator (zero-vector, ZV) when ocelli only and ants with compound eyes ants are displaced several meters from released on unfamiliar grounds. All tested and ocelli all showed a lower meander as their foraging route, they performed fairly ants started moving activity but totally FV ants than as ZV ants.10,11 Information meanderous walking paths although the blinded ants (Fig. 1A, Bl) displayed paths about the distance and direction from the scenery is familiar enough to lead them with the highest meander,10 which leads to path integrator induces straighter walks. toward their well-known route corridor.12 the conclusion that visual input is heav- Remarkably, the difference between ZV Paths become only very straight when ily involved in yaw stabilization. Ants and FV blind ants (Fig. 1A and B, Bl) ants hit their familiar route corridor. This with covered compound eyes but open even reveals that visual cues are not nec- might be due to a particular view-based ocelli (Fig. 1A, Oc) showed lower mean- essary for lowering the meander, imply- strategy which consist in aligning the body der levels in their walks.10 Thus, ocelli ing that the yaw stabilization in walks is as to match the features on memorised and play a little role in controlling the yaw also controlled by idiothetic information. current views.13,14 This phenomenon can angle. The gain in yaw stability might It suggests that the odometric component be called using a visual compass and pro- result from the ability of ocelli to read of the path integrator influences the ants’ vides a non-ambiguous direction for travel celestial compass cues. Additional visual walking behavior—even without visual on a familiar route.15-17 The yaw stabiliza- input from the compound eyes (Fig. 1A, input. tion on familiar routes seems to be further Ct) decreased the meander and therefore We also investigated the yaw angle of improved when the direction of travel is in increased the yaw stabilization of the ant ZV ant paths in familiar visual scenery. synergy with the direction dictated by the walks. This could be due to a combination The focus lies on ants with open com- path integrator.14 This suggests that odo- of celestial compass information perceived pound eyes and covered ocelli (Ey) since metric information, perception of celestial www.landesbioscience.com Communicative & Integrative Biology 759 References 10.
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