6.12 Orientation And Navigation Flashcards
What are orientation flights for and when do they take place?
They allow workers to know where the nest is in realtion to surrouidng landmarks. These orientation flights allow workers to extract and memorise useful visual information about important cues. They take place on warm, windless sunny afternoons. Distance and duration icnreases over time.
What are the two types of orientation flights?
o Short range orientation flights performed in the immediate surroundings of the hive and occur frequently
o Long range orientation flights lead the bees int new sectors and useful for longer foraging trips.
How is the sun used for orientation?
It is a reference for the bees internal compass. When the sun is obscured by cloud, the bees can use patterns of polarization that the sun creates through the atmopshere.
How are landmarks used for oreitnation purposes>
Those landmarks near the bee such as trees and vegetation change in size and shape as they fly past so this provides sensory input about movement. Those landmarks further away do not change in shape and size so can help with direction.
What is a congative map?
Bees are claimed to possess these which are systems of coding space by using raltional ifnroamtion by linking parts of the environment together.
What do we mean when bees have visual odometer?
Odometer is an instrument used for measuring distance. The speed at which obstacles in the environment pass by (the angle at which the environment moves behind the bee per second) realtes to the amount of distance the bee thinks it has covered. Srinivasan et al., (2000) flew bees in tunnels to confuse them about distance
Other than solar and landmarks, what other way can bees orientate themselves?
Olfactory signals
