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Desert ants, especially species cataglyph nodeHe impressed scientists with his navigation skills using magnetic fields. Dr. from the University of Oldenburg, Germany. Researchers led by Pauline Fleischmann made
Desert ants, especially species cataglyph nodeHe impressed scientists with his navigation skills using magnetic fields. Dr. from the University of Oldenburg, Germany. Researchers led by Pauline Fleischmann made a fascinating discovery about these ants. Unlike other insects, they rely on a unique component of the Earth’s magnetic field to navigate. This discovery suggests that desert ants have a different magnetic sensing mechanism, potentially involving small particles of magnetite or other magnetic minerals.
Magnetoreception (the ability to detect the Earth’s magnetic field) remains the subject of intense scientific debate. One theory focuses on the radical pair mechanism, a light-dependent quantum effect that allows the body to detect subtle changes in magnetic field direction.
Evidence from the Center for Collaborative Research on Vertebrate Magnetoreception and Navigation project supports a radical pair mechanism in small passerine birds and possibly insects such as monarch butterflies. Another theory involves tiny magnetic particles acting like compass needles in sensory or nerve cells.
Animals such as pigeons, bats and sea turtles are believed to use this particle-based system. Both mechanisms appear to coexist in nature, demonstrating the complexity of magnetic sensing across species.
To determine which mechanism desert ants use, scientists from the University of Oldenburg conducted behavioral experiments. They hypothesized that animals using a particle-based system would respond to the north-south polarity of the geomagnetic field, while animals using a radical pair mechanism would determine the slope of the field.
Dr. Fleischmann, Dr. Robin Grob, Johanna Wegmann and Dr. Together with Wolfgang Ressler, he investigated the magnetic sense of desert ants. Experts focused on whether ants determine the tilt or polarity of the geomagnetic field. This research builds on Fleischman’s 2018 doctoral discovery that desert ants have magnetic sensitivity.
The team conducted experiments on a Greek ant colony using Helmholtz coils to create artificial magnetic fields. The ants emerging from the nest were taken through a tunnel to an experimental area where their “training walks” were filmed. These walks are very important because ants remember the direction of the nest entrance by using the magnetic field to improve their visual memory.
“We suspect that ants use the magnetic field to train their visual memory,” Fleischmann said. A new study on brain development in ants PNAS confirms this hypothesis.
In their experiments, the researchers changed the angle of the magnetic field without affecting the behavior of the ants. The ants continued to look at the entrance of their nest. However, when the polarity of the field was reversed by 180 degrees, the ants completely misjudged the location of the nest. This suggests that desert ants rely on polarity rather than tilt to navigate.
“This type of compass is particularly useful for navigating relatively short distances,” Fleischmann said. Monarch butterflies and songbirds, by contrast, use magnetic inclination as a navigation aid during long-distance migrations.
Desert ants live in harsh environments with few landmarks, such as the salt flats of the North African Sahara or the pine forests of Greece. Even though they travel hundreds of meters in search of food, they return to the nest entrance with extraordinary care. Zigzag exit patterns turn into straight lines on the return. This discovery sheds light on the evolutionary diversity of magnetoreception. Ants, bees, and wasps, all members of the order Hymenoptera, exhibit unique sensory adaptations.
“The fact that desert ants use a different magnetic sensing mechanism than other insects opens new avenues for studying the evolution of sensory perception in the animal kingdom,” Fleischmann said.
Understanding the magnetic sense of desert ants not only deepens our knowledge of insect navigation but also sheds light on the complex evolution of their sensory systems. This research paves the way for further research into how various species adapt to their environments, using the Earth’s magnetic field as a guide.
Desert ants use not only their magnetic senses; They are also masters of adaptation. They thrive in some of the world’s harshest environments, enduring temperatures that can exceed 50°C (122°F). These ants have special heat shock proteins that allow them to survive in such intense heat. Additionally, their silvery body hair helps them keep their body temperature lower by reflecting sunlight.
Another fascinating aspect of desert ants is their reliance on path integration to navigate. They use a combination of step counting and celestial clues, such as the position of the sun, to calculate their exact position.
This allows them to find their way back to their nests, even if their journey involves complex winding routes. Desert ants also display impressive teamwork. They cooperate to transport large food items back to the nest and adapt their strategies to environmental challenges. These survival traits make them excellent models for behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology studies. The study was published in the journal Current Biology.
Source: Port Altele
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