posted on 2022-03-28, 20:01authored byPatrick Schultheiss
Melophorus bagoti is a solitary foraging desert ant of Central Australia. As part of a major endeavour to study insect navigation it has recently attracted considerable attention, calling for an intimate knowledge of its foraging ecology. This thesis examines foraging traits on the colony level, and investigates the strategies that are used by foragers when searching for resources. Foraging activity is limited to a window of ca. 50-70°C soil surface temperature, when foragers scavenge opportunistically for food items. Although seemingly capable of laying chemical trails when moving the colony, recruitment behaviour towards large food sources appears to work without the use of pheromone trails. When unable to locate a single target, like a food source or the nest entrance, foragers engage in a systematic search. The size of their search paths is flexible, which allows them to increase search efficiency. To this end, several different cues are used, which inform the foragers of the whereabouts of the target. In food searches, size depends on the type of food, and matches the natural distribution pattern of food items. In nest searches, size depends on the accuracy of the path integrator, which is a navigational tool that accumulates errors. In addition, it depends on the presence of visual navigation cues in the surrounding panorama, and on the amount of information that can be derived from these visual cues. Interestingly, presence or absence of visual cues also changes the movement pattern of searching foragers. Taken together, these results demonstrate how closely searching behaviour is linked with a forager's navigational toolkit, and with its environment.
History
Table of Contents
Introduction -- 1. Foraging patterns and strategies in an Australian desert ant -- 2. Nest relocation and colony founding in the Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti -- 3. Finding food: outbound searching behaviour in the Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti -- 4. Finding the nest: inbound searching behaviour in the Australian desert ant Melophorus bagoti -- 5. Information content of visual scenes influences systematic search of desert ants -- Conclusion -- Appendices.
Notes
Some parts were removed due to copyright restrictions.
Thesis by publication.
Includes bibliographical references
Awarding Institution
Macquarie University
Degree Type
Thesis PhD
Degree
Thesis (PhD), Macquarie University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
Department, Centre or School
Department of Biological Sciences
Year of Award
2012
Principal Supervisor
Ken Cheng
Additional Supervisor 1
Simon Griffith
Rights
Copyright disclaimer: http://www.copyright.mq.edu.au
Copyright Patrick Schultheis 2012.