The sun is the most prominent source of directional information in the heading direction network of the diurnal, ball-rolling dung beetle Kheper lamarcki. If this celestial body is occluded from the beetle's field of view, the distribution of the relative weight between the directional cues that remain shifts in favour of the celestial pattern of polarised light. In this study, we continue to explore the interplay of the sun and polarisation pattern as directional cues in the heading direction network of K. lamarcki. By systematically altering the intensity and degree of the two cues presented, we effectively change the relative reliability of these directional cues as they appear to the dung beetle. The response of the ball-rolling beetle to these modifications allows us to closely examine how the weighting relationship of these two sources of directional information is influenced and altered in the heading direction network of the beetle. We conclude that the process in which K. lamarcki relies on directional information is very likely done based on Bayesian reasoning, where directional information conveying the highest certainty at a particular moment is afforded the greatest weight.
The interplay of directional information provided by unpolarised and polarised light in the heading direction network of the diurnal dung beetle Kheper lamarcki
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): Vetenskapsrådet
- Award Id(s): 2014-04623, MD
- Funder(s):
- Award Group:
- Funder(s): European Research Council
- Award Id(s): 817535-Ultimate-COMPASS, MD
- Funder(s):
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Lana Khaldy, James J. Foster, Ayse Yilmaz, Gregor Belušič, Yakir Gagnon, Claudia Tocco, Marcus J. Byrne, Marie Dacke; The interplay of directional information provided by unpolarised and polarised light in the heading direction network of the diurnal dung beetle Kheper lamarcki. J Exp Biol 2022; jeb.243734. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243734
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