Data from: Flexible weighing of olfactory and vector information in the desert ant Cataglyphis fortis

Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, are equipped with remarkable skills that enable them to navigate efficiently. When travelling between the nest and a previously visited feeding site, they perform path integration (PI), but pinpoint the nest or feeder by following odour plumes. Homing ants respond to nest plumes only when the path integrator indicates that they are near home. This is crucial, as homing ants often pass through plumes emanating from foreign nests and do not discriminate between the plume of their own and that of a foreign nest, but should absolutely avoid entering a wrong nest. Their behaviour towards food odours differs greatly. Here, we show that in ants on the way to food, olfactory information outweighs PI information. Although PI guides ants back to a learned feeder, the ants respond to food odours independently of whether or not they are close to the learned feeding site. This ability is beneficial, as new food sources—unlike foreign nests—never pose a threat but enable ants to shorten distances travelled while foraging. While it has been shown that navigating C. fortis ants rely strongly on PI, we report here that the ants retained the necessary flexibility in the use of PI.

沙漠蚂蚁（Cataglyphis fortis）具备卓越的导航能力，可高效完成路径寻路。当在巢穴与已造访过的觅食点之间往返时，它们会采用路径积分（path integration, PI）策略，并通过追踪气味羽流来定位巢穴或喂食位点。归巢蚂蚁仅在路径积分系统提示自身已接近巢穴时，才会对巢穴气味羽流做出响应。这一机制至关重要：归巢蚂蚁常会途经外来巢穴释放的气味羽流，且无法区分自身巢穴与外来巢穴的气味羽流，但它们绝对不会误入其他巢穴。而它们对食物气味的行为响应则大相径庭。本研究表明，在前往觅食点的蚂蚁中，嗅觉信息的优先级高于路径积分信息。尽管路径积分可引导蚂蚁返回已习得的喂食位点，但蚂蚁对食物气味的响应并不受自身是否处于该觅食点附近的影响。该能力具备进化优势：与外来巢穴不同，新发现的食物来源不会构成威胁，反而能帮助蚂蚁缩短觅食过程中的行进距离。尽管已有研究证实，具有导航能力的C. fortis蚂蚁高度依赖路径积分，但本研究表明，这类蚂蚁在路径积分的使用上具备必要的灵活性。