scholarly journals Acquisition and expression of memories of distance and direction in navigating wood ants

2015 ◽  
Vol 218 (22) ◽  
pp. 3580-3588 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. D. Fernandes ◽  
A. Philippides ◽  
T. S. Collett ◽  
J. E. Niven
Keyword(s):  
Wood Ants

scholarly journals Moving apart together: co-movement of a symbiont community and their ant host, and its importance for community assembly

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Parmentier ◽  
R. Claus ◽  
F. De Laender ◽  
D. Bonte
Keyword(s):  
Community Assembly ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Spatial Dynamics ◽  
Joint Movement ◽  
Red Wood Ants ◽  
Ant Nests ◽  
Mobile Species ◽  
Directional Movement ◽  
Wood Ants ◽  
Red Wood Ant

Abstract Background Species interactions may affect spatial dynamics when the movement of one species is determined by the presence of another one. The most direct species-dependence of dispersal is vectored, usually cross-kingdom, movement of immobile parasites, diseases or seeds by mobile animals. Joint movements of species should, however, not be vectored by definition, as even mobile species are predicted to move together when they are tightly connected in symbiont communities. Methods We studied concerted movements in a diverse and heterogeneous community of arthropods (myrmecophiles) associated with red wood ants. We questioned whether joint-movement strategies eventually determine and speed-up community succession. Results We recorded an astonishingly high number of obligate myrmecophiles outside red wood ant nests. They preferentially co-moved with the host ants as the highest densities were found in locations with the highest density of foraging red wood ants, such as along the network of ant trails. These observations suggest that myrmecophiles resort to the host to move away from the nest, and this to a much higher extent than hitherto anticipated. Interestingly, functional groups of symbionts displayed different dispersal kernels, with predatory myrmecophiles moving more frequently and further from the nest than detritivorous myrmecophiles. We discovered that myrmecophile diversity was lower in newly founded nests than in mature red wood ant nests. Most myrmecophiles, however, were able to colonize new nests fast suggesting that the heterogeneity in mobility does not affect community assembly. Conclusions We show that co-movement is not restricted to tight parasitic, or cross-kingdom interactions. Movement in social insect symbiont communities may be heterogeneous and functional group-dependent, but clearly affected by host movement. Ultimately, this co-movement leads to directional movement and allows a fast colonisation of new patches, but not in a predictable way. This study highlights the importance of spatial dynamics of local and regional networks in symbiont metacommunities, of which those of symbionts of social insects are prime examples.

scholarly journals A motion compensation treadmill for untethered wood ants (Formica rufa): evidence for transfer of orientation memories from free-walking training

2020 ◽  
Vol 223 (24) ◽  
pp. jeb228601
Author(s):  
Roman Goulard ◽  
Cornelia Buehlmann ◽  
Jeremy E. Niven ◽  
Paul Graham ◽  
Barbara Webb
Keyword(s):  
Motion Compensation ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Formica Rufa ◽  
Insect Navigation ◽  
Wood Ants ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Controlled Environments ◽  
Freely Moving ◽  
Time Frames ◽  
Natural Scale

ABSTRACTThe natural scale of insect navigation during foraging makes it challenging to study under controlled conditions. Virtual reality and trackball setups have offered experimental control over visual environments while studying tethered insects, but potential limitations and confounds introduced by tethering motivates the development of alternative untethered solutions. In this paper, we validate the use of a motion compensator (or ‘treadmill’) to study visually driven behaviour of freely moving wood ants (Formica rufa). We show how this setup allows naturalistic walking behaviour and preserves foraging motivation over long time frames. Furthermore, we show that ants are able to transfer associative and navigational memories from classical maze and arena contexts to our treadmill. Thus, we demonstrate the possibility to study navigational behaviour over ecologically relevant durations (and virtual distances) in precisely controlled environments, bridging the gap between natural and highly controlled laboratory experiments.

scholarly journals Wood ants express uncertainty when engaging with magnetic cues for directional guidance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Stephen Collett ◽  
Andrew O Philippides
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Opposite Direction ◽  
Horizontal Direction ◽  
Cylindrical Wall ◽  
Black Stripe ◽  
Wood Ants ◽  
Route Direction ◽  
Correct Direction ◽  
Correct Path ◽  
The Magnetic Field

Wood ants were trained indoors to follow a route in a chosen magnetic direction from the centre of a small, circular arena to find a drop of sucrose at the edge. The arena, surrounded by a white cylindrical wall, was in the centre of a 3D coil system that generated an inclined Earth strength magnetic field in any horizontal direction. Between trials, the chosen magnetic training direction was rotated to a new orientation. Tests were given without food and with fresh or reversed paper on the floor of the arena. In a significant number of tests, ants left the centre facing the goal, or in the opposite direction, but they mostly failed to reach the goal. Tests given early in the day, before any training, show that ants remember the magnetic route direction overnight. On some training trials, the position of the sucrose was also indicated by a black stripe. Not uncommonly, ants first moved in the opposite direction to the stripe before switching to the correct direction. Travel away from the reward seems to express the ant's uncertainty about the correct path to take. Tests show that this uncertainty may stem from competing directional cues linked to the room, suggesting that ants are reluctant to rely on magnetic information alone. We conclude that ants can remember a route direction defined by an Earth-strength magnetic field and that they express any uncertainty about the correct direction by moving for a stretch in the opposite direction. In a second experiment, an upright and an inverted triangle were fixed 90° from each other to the inside of the cylinder. Sucrose was placed beneath one of the triangles, dependent on the direction of the magnetic field. Ants failed to master this task and to approach the magnetically cued triangle. Instead, they preferred to approach the upright triangle. The ants were again uncertain of the correct direction and expressed this uncertainty through paths that had segments directed towards both the inverted and the upright triangles.

scholarly journals Foraging loads of red wood ants:Formica aquilonia(Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in relation to tree characteristics and stand age

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heloise Gibb ◽  
Jon Andersson ◽  
Therese Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Large Diameter ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Small Diameter ◽  
Resource Depletion ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Resource Quality ◽  
Red Wood Ants ◽  
Wood Ants ◽  
Colony Level

Background.Foraging efficiency is critical in determining the success of organisms and may be affected by a range of factors, including resource distance and quality. For social insects such as ants, outcomes must be considered at the level of both the individual and the colony. It is important to understand whether anthropogenic disturbances, such as forestry, affect foraging loads, independent of effects on the quality and distribution of resources. We asked if ants harvest greater loads from more distant and higher quality resources, how individual efforts scale to the colony level, and whether worker loads are affected by stand age.Methods.First, we performed a fine-scale study examining the effect of distance and resource quality (tree diameter and species) on harvesting of honeydew by red wood ants,Formica aquilonia, in terms of crop load per worker ant and numbers of workers walking up and down each tree (ant activity) (study 1). Second, we modelled what the combination of load and worker number responses meant for colony-level foraging loads. Third, at a larger scale, we asked whether the relationship between worker load and resource quality and distance depended on stand age (study 2).Results.Study 1 revealed that seventy percent of ants descending trees carried honeydew, and the percentage of workers that were honeydew harvesters was not related to tree species or diameter, but increased weakly with distance. Distance positively affected load mass in both studies 1 and 2, while diameter had weak negative effects on load. Relationships between load and distance and diameter did not differ among stands of different ages. Our model showed that colony-level loads declined much more rapidly with distance for small diameter than large diameter trees.Discussion.We suggest that a negative relationship between diameter and honeydew load detected in study 1 might be a result of crowding on large diameter trees close to nests, while the increase in honeydew load with distance may result from resource depletion close to nests. At the colony level, our model suggests that very little honeydew was harvested from more distant trees if they were small, but that more distant larger trees continued to contribute substantially to colony harvest. Although forestry alters the activity and foraging success of red wood ants, study 2 showed that it does not alter the fundamental rules determining the allocation of foraging effort.

The distribution of wood-ants (Formica lugubris Zetterstedt) in a northern English forest

1977 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. SUDD ◽  
J. M. DOUGLAS ◽  
T. GAYNARD ◽  
D. M. MURRAY ◽  
J. M. STOCKDALE
Keyword(s):  
Wood Ants ◽  
Formica Lugubris
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