Simulated visual homing in desert ant natural environments: efficiency of skyline cues |
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Authors: | Kai Basten Hanspeter A Mallot |
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Institution: | (1) School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK;(2) Department of Brain, Behaviour and Evolution, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia |
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Abstract: | Desert ants, foraging in cluttered semiarid environments, are thought to be visually guided along individual, habitual routes.
While other navigational mechanisms (e.g. path integration) are well studied, the question of how ants extract reliable visual
features from a complex visual scene is still largely open. This paper explores the assumption that the upper outline of ground
objects formed against the sky, i.e. the skyline, provides sufficient information for visual navigation. We constructed a
virtual model of the ant’s environment. In the virtual environment, panoramic images were recorded and adapted to the resolution
of the desert ant’s complex eye. From these images either a skyline code or a pixel-based intensity code were extracted. Further,
two homing algorithms were implemented, a modified version of the average landmark vector (ALV) model (Lambrinos et al. Robot
Auton Syst 30:39–64, 2000) and a gradient ascent method. Results show less spatial aliasing for skyline coding and best homing
performance for ALV homing based on skyline codes. This supports the assumption of skyline coding in visual homing of desert
ants and allows novel approaches to technical outdoor navigation. |
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