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Anim Cogn

Title:		"Pheromone cue triggers switch between vectors in the desert harvest ant, Veromessor pergandei"
Author(s):		Freas CA; Congdon JV; Plowes NJR; Spetch ML;
Address:		"Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2R3, Canada. freascody@gmail.com. Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2R3, Canada. Department of Life Sciences, Mesa Community College, Mesa, AZ, USA"
Journal Title:		Anim Cogn
Year:		2020
Volume:		20200220
Issue:		6
Page Number:		1087 - 1105
DOI:		10.1007/s10071-020-01354-7
ISSN/ISBN:		1435-9456 (Electronic) 1435-9448 (Linking)
Abstract:		"The desert harvester ant (Veromessor pergandei) employs a mixture of social and individual navigational strategies at separate stages of their foraging trip. Individuals leave the nest along a pheromone-based column, travelling 3-40 m before spreading out to forage individually in a fan. Foragers use path integration while in this fan, accumulating a direction and distance estimate (vector) to return to the end of the column (column head), yet foragers' potential use of path integration in the pheromone-based column is less understood. Here we show foragers rely on path integration both in the foraging fan and while in the column to return to the nest, using separate vectors depending on their current foraging stage in the fan or column. Returning foragers displaced while in the fan oriented and travelled to the column head location while those displaced after reaching the column travel in the nest direction, signifying the maintenance of a two-vector system with separate fan and column vectors directing a forager to two separate spatial locations. Interestingly, the trail pheromone and not the surrounding terrestrial cues mediate use of these distinct vectors, as fan foragers briefly exposed to the pheromone cues of the column in isolation altered their paths to a combination of the fan and column vectors. The pheromone acts as a contextual cue triggering both the retrieval of the column-vector memory and its integration with the forager's current fan-vector"
Keywords:		Animals *Ants Cues Homing Behavior Memory Pheromones Celestial compass Context cue Local vectors Navigation Path integration Pheromone trails;
Notes:		"MedlineFreas, Cody A Congdon, Jenna V Plowes, Nicola J R Spetch, Marcia L eng 04133/Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada/ Germany 2020/02/23 Anim Cogn. 2020 Nov; 23(6):1087-1105. doi: 10.1007/s10071-020-01354-7. Epub 2020 Feb 20"