Preliminary Studies of Navigation in Context of Relocation in an Indian Ant

Mendonza, Jolly Janette (2016) Preliminary Studies of Navigation in Context of Relocation in an Indian Ant. Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata.

PDF (MS dissertation of Jolly Janette Mendonza (11MS049)) Jolly_11MS049_Thesis.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (2MB)

Abstract

Diacamma indicum ants are excellent navigational models as its relocation mechanism is tandem running. This ant, till date has not been identified to have a trial pheromone therefore it is a better option to look at the effects of landmarks on navigation. This is a study conducted on use of continuous homogenous and heterogenous substrate as landmarks .Based on this landmark based navigation, we have analysed the effect on the relocation dynamics and attempted to know whether location/path learning is occurring. This research shows that the ants use continuous substrates as landmarks, that aid navigation. The occurrence of path /location learning across subsequent relocation was observed with respect to transport time and the differences in paths taken during learning v/s learnt phase was recorded.

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