Ants Can Learn to Forage on One-Way Trails 英文参考文献.docVIP

AntsCanLearntoForageonOne-WayTrails PedroLeiteRibeiro1,2*,Andre′ Fraza?oHelene1¤,GilbertoXavier1,CarlosNavas1,FernandoLeiteRibeiro2 1DepartmentofPhysiology,UniversityofSa?oPauloInstituteofBiosciences,Sa?oPaulo,Brazil,2DepartmentofExperimentalPsychology,UniversityofSa?oPauloInstitute ofPsychology,Sa?o Paulo,Brazil Abstract Thetrailsformedbymanyantspeciesbetweennestandfoodsourcearetwo-wayroadsonwhichoutgoingandreturning workersmeetandtoucheachotherallalong.Thewaytogetbackhome,aftergraspingafoodload,istotakethesame route on which they have arrived from the nest. In many species such trails are chemically marked by pheromones providingorientationcuesfortheantstofindtheirway.Otherspeciesrelyontheirvisionanduselandmarksascues.We havedevelopedamethodtostopforagingantsfromshuttlingontwo-waytrails.Theonlywaytoforageistotaketwo separateroads,astheycannotgobackontheirstepsafterarrivingatthefoodoratthenest.Theconditionqualifiesasa problembecausealltheirorientationcues–chemical,visualoranyother-aredisrupted,asallofthemcannotbutleadthe antsbacktotherouteonwhichtheyarrived.Wehavefoundthatworkersoftheleaf-cuttingantAttasexdensrubropilosa cansolvetheproblem.Theycouldnotonlyfindthealternativeway,butalsousedtheunidirectionaltrafficsystemtoforage effectively. We suggest that their ability is an evolutionary consequence of the need to deal with environmental irregularitiesthatcannotbenegotiatedbymeansofexcessivelystereotypedbehavior,andthatitisbutanexampleofa widespreadphenomenon.Wealsosuggestthatourmethodcanbeadaptedtootherspecies,invertebrateandvertebrate, inthestudyoforientation,memory,perception,learningandcommunication. Citation: Ribeiro PL, Helene AF, Xavier G, Navas C, Ribeiro FL (2009) Ants Can Learn to Forage on One-Way Trails. PLoS ONE 4(4): e5024. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0005024 Editor:AnnaDornhaus,UniversityofArizona,UnitedStatesofAmerica ReceivedNovember19,2008;AcceptedMarch5,2009;PublishedApril1,2009 Copyright: ? 2009 Ribeiro et al. This is an open-access article dis