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Ant Navigation: Fractional Use of the Home Vector

Figure 3

Geometric construction showing the distance (r) distribution between two possible locations to begin search, and the points along a familiar route (L) between the nest at and the feeder at .

The two locations being compared are denoted and. These represent two possible locations to begin searching for the familiar route, one exactly midway along a line parallel to the familiar route, and one slightly displaced from the midpoint. It is assumed the searcher has been displaced by some distance perpendicularly to the familiar route (NB: if , the searcher has found the familiar route). Congruent triangles (dashed lines) show equivalent distributions of distances to points along the familiar route, while the shaded areas show unequal distributions of distances (see text for details).

doi: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0050451.g003