| Title: | Carpenter ants use diverse antennae sampling strategies to track odor trails |
| Author(s): | Draft RW; McGill MR; Kapoor V; Murthy VN; |
| Address: | "Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA draft@fas.harvard.edu. Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1477-9145 (Electronic) 0022-0949 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Directed and meaningful animal behavior depends on the ability to sense key features in the environment. Among the different environmental signals, olfactory cues are critically important for foraging, navigation and social communication in many species, including ants. Ants use their two antennae to explore the olfactory world, but how they do so remains largely unknown. In this study, we used high-resolution videography to characterize the antennae dynamics of carpenter ants (Camponotus pennsylvanicus). Antennae are highly active during both odor tracking and exploratory behavior. When tracking, ants used several distinct behavioral strategies with stereotyped antennae sampling patterns (which we call 'sinusoidal', 'probing' and 'trail following'). In all behaviors, left and right antennae movements were anti-correlated, and tracking ants exhibited biases in the use of left versus right antenna to sample the odor trail. These results suggest non-redundant roles for the two antennae. In one of the behavioral modules (trail following), ants used both antennae to detect trail edges and direct subsequent turns, suggesting a specialized form of tropotaxis. Lastly, removal of an antenna resulted not only in less accurate tracking but also in changes in the sampling pattern of the remaining antenna. Our quantitative characterization of odor trail tracking lays a foundation to build better models of olfactory sensory processing and sensorimotor behavior in terrestrial insects" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Ants/*physiology Arthropod Antennae/physiology *Behavior, Animal Cues Pheromones Smell/physiology Video Recording Behavior Camponotus Navigation Olfaction Pheromone Trail tracking;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineDraft, Ryan W McGill, Matthew R Kapoor, Vikrant Murthy, Venkatesh N eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2018/09/30 J Exp Biol. 2018 Nov 19; 221(Pt 22):jeb185124. doi: 10.1242/jeb.185124" |
