Desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis, search for a repeatedly visited food source by employing a combined olfactory and anemotactic orientation strategy (in addition to their visually based path-integration scheme). This behaviour was investigated by video-tracking consecutive foraging trips of individually marked ants under a variety of experimental conditions, including manipulations of the olfactory and wind-detecting systems of the ants. If the wind blows from a constant direction, ants familiar with the feeding site follow outbound paths that lead them into an area 0.5-2.5 m downwind of the feeding station. Here, the ants apparently pick up odour plumes emanating from the food source and follow these by steering an upwind course until they reach the feeder. If the food is removed, foragers usually concentrate their search movements within the area downwind of the feeding site. Only when the wind happens to subside or when tail-wind conditions prevail do the ants steer direct courses towards the food. Elimination of olfactory input by clipping the antennal flagella, or of wind perception by immobilising the bases of the antennae, altered the foraging behaviour of the ants in ways that supported these interpretations. Ants with clipped flagella were never observed to collect food items.
In the field: an interview with Harald Wolf
(update)-Conversation.jpg?versionId=3667)
In our new Conversation, Harald Wolf talks about his fieldwork experiences working with desert ants in Tunisia to understand their navigation.
Propose a new Workshop
-GSWorkshop.png?versionId=3667)
Our Workshops bring together leading experts and early-career researchers from a range of scientific backgrounds. Applications are now open to propose Workshops for 2024, one of which will be held in a Global South country.
Julian Dow steps down and John Terblanche joins the JEB team
-NewEditor.png?versionId=3667)
After 15 years with the journal, Julian Dow from University of Glasgow, UK, is stepping down as a Monitoring Editor. We wish Julian all the best for the future and welcome John Terblanche, Stellenbosch University, South Africa, who is joining the team. Julian talks about his long association with The Company of Biologists and the journal and John tells us about his life and career in this News article.
Ecotourism affecting iguana glucose tolerance
-Iguanas.jpg?versionId=3667)
Ecotourists feeding grapes on skewers to north Bahamian rock iguanas may be doing the reptiles more harm than good as the sugar charged diet is giving the animals high blood sugar.
Evolution of metabolic plasticity
-MetabolicPlasticity.png?versionId=3667)
In their Commentary, Frank Seebacher and Julian Beaman propose that metabolic plasticity originated in prebiotic protocells and that it was a pre-requisite for effective transfer of genetic material across generations – the hallmark of Darwinian evolution.
Social media
