ABSTRACT
Many walking insects use vision for long-distance navigation, but the influence of vision on rapid walking performance that requires close-range obstacle detection and directing the limbs towards stable footholds remains largely untested. We compared Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) workers in light versus darkness while traversing flat and uneven terrain. In darkness, ants reduced flat-ground walking speeds by only 5%. Similarly, the approach speed and time to cross a step obstacle were not significantly affected by lack of lighting. To determine whether tactile sensing might compensate for vision loss, we tracked antennal motion and observed shifts in spatiotemporal activity as a result of terrain structure but not illumination. Together, these findings suggest that vision does not impact walking performance in Argentine ant workers. Our results help contextualize eye variation across ants, including subterranean, nocturnal and eyeless species that walk in complete darkness. More broadly, our findings highlight the importance of integrating vision, proprioception and tactile sensing for robust locomotion in unstructured environments.
Footnotes
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing or financial interests.
Author contributions
Conceptualization: G.T.C., D.H., N.G.; Methodology: G.T.C.; Software: G.T.C., N.G.; Formal analysis: G.T.C.; Resources: N.G.; Writing - original draft: G.T.C.; Writing - review & editing: D.H., N.G.; Visualization: G.T.C.; Supervision: N.G.; Funding acquisition: N.G.
Funding
Funding support for this research was provided by the Army Research Office under grant W911NF-17-1-0145, the University of California, San Diego Chancellor's Research Excellence Scholarships, and support from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Data availability
The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are publicly available on the Harvard Dataverse: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/G3X8TW. The code used for analysis is available at GitHub: https://github.com/gtclifton/Ant_LightDark.
Supplementary information
Supplementary information available online at https://jeb.biologists.org/lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.228460.supplemental
- Received May 5, 2020.
- Accepted August 10, 2020.
- © 2020. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
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