E&E Seminar: “Resourcefulness in scarcity: navigational strategies in desert ants” by Marilia Freire (UIC)
November 11, 2025
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Location
SELE 4289
Calendar
Download iCal FilePlease join us November 11, 2025 at 12:30 in SELE 4289 for an E&E Seminar featuring "Resourcefulness in scarcity: navigational strategies in desert ants" by Dr. Marilia Freire (UIC). Marilia is a post-doc in Escalante-Meza Lab.
Abstract: Navigation in many animals relies primarily on path integration, a mechanism that tracks direction and distance using celestial cues and step counting. However, because this system accumulates errors with distance, it can be supported by additional visual and olfactory cues when available. One notable taxon that uses multiple navigation techniques is the desert ant, Cataglyphis fortis. These insects inhabit the salt pans of Tunisia, where each ant must return to a small, inconspicuous nest after solitary foraging across a flat and visually sparse landscape. To investigate how navigation operates under such environmental constraints, my work examined how local cues, individual behavioral patterns, and social interactions influence homing in C. fortis. Colonies in featureless areas construct prominent nest hills, which are rebuilt when removed, suggesting that they provide visual support for homing in the absence of natural landmarks. Despite environmental uniformity, individual ants followed consistent and distinct foraging routes across trips, potentially reflecting the influence of prior experience or internal state on navigational decisions. Social interactions also influenced homing behavior: contact with non-nestmates, particularly near food sources, was associated with increased search spread and reduced reliance on path integration, suggesting that recent social context modulates navigational strategies. Consequently, my work highlights how animal navigation involves the flexible use of multiple strategies to maintain orientation in a challenging landscape.
Date posted
Jul 1, 2025
Date updated
Oct 30, 2025