ANTSTORE World of Ants

[UKant]

Hi

I just found some new information on Ants(Lasius Niger) sensitivity to Red Light!:

"The influence of red light on the aggregation of two castes of the ant, Lasius niger.
Depickere S, Fresneau D, Deneubourg JL.

Universite Libre de Bruxelles, CENOLI, CP 231, Bld du Triomphe, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium; Universite Paris XIII, Laboratoire d'Ethologie Experimentale et Comparee, Av. Jean-Baptiste Clement, 93430 Villetaneuse, France.

Insects are generally described as essentially blind to red wavelengths but sensitive to ultraviolet. Therefore, ants are generally reared in nests where "obscurity" is obtained by the use of a red filter. Yet, no study has been done in order to confirm this idea and to verify whether ants behave differently with or without red light. We performed aggregation experiments with the ant Lasius niger under red light and in total darkness to control the sensitivity of workers. Aggregation is a basic behavior associated with the origin of sociality and with the spatial organization of the colony. We demonstrate that L. niger is sensitive to red wavelengths. Moreover, we show that workers behave differently depending on their ethological caste: foragers aggregate well in total darkness but show low assembly under red light, whereas brood-tenders aggregate well in both conditions. For the first time, a link between vision, social organization and spatial patterns is revealed. The results are discussed relative to their adaptive value and relative to the physiology of the workers. Hypotheses are formulated concerning the acquisition of this change of behavior between castes."

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So in the light of this, what do you think ? is there any point then in putting red PVC/light over the nest area of the Formicariums ?

Or we could say:
normal light < red light < total darkness ?

so red light is still better than normal ? (too bad that the experiment didnt include a control group with normal light ://)

[Scàth-Siorrai]

theres no point in keeping ants in the dark

i keep them in full light

[gonzobey]

There is one big point: keeping the ants appropriate to the specie. I ´ll use the red foil allways by keeping my ants in gypsum- or ytong-nest. When they can dig into the sand and have their nest theire its not neccessary ;O)

I use the non-glutinous foil, so I can allways put it off to look into the nest for details or pictures. So if I want I can see all, and if I´m not watching them they have it very nearly to nature (= dark). Isn´t this a alternaive we can work with, to keep ants with he neccessary sense of responsibility? Please let everybody answer to this question by himself!

@ UKant
Thank you very much for the interessting informations. I heard about that other scientist had made also an experimence with red foil. They found that the deepness of the red is also a influencing aspect.

yours
Bianca

[UKant]

Yeah, thats what i was sthinking too.

So the next thing would be determining the wavelength of the red light that would be the most appropriate. I would guess the closer to the end of the spectrum, the more the ants would think its dark ? right ?


so it sounds really good in theory, but how exactly can one measure wavelenght ? and even if i would know what wavelenght i want i dont think i could go into a store and ask for a red plexi glass by telling the desired wavelenght ?

It would be really great if someone could post some images of red glasses that he thinks the best for the ants...

[FLechdrop]

Originally posted by UKant
i dont think i could go into a store and ask for a red plexi glass by telling the desired wavelenght ?

Haha for some reason I found this to be very funny
There should be a monty python like sketch be made of that!

"Morning!" "Morning!" "Can I have the red glass with.. 500Hz wavelenght?" "Have WHAT?" "500Hz please." "Ah, I misheard you then, here you are!" "Thanks!" "Welcome!" "Bye!" "Bye!"


Anyway I don't like these new discoveries, I was planning on using red foil on my glass.

To respond to gonzobey:
"I´ll use the red foil allways by keeping my ants in gypsum- or ytong-nest. When they can dig into the sand and have their nest theire its not neccessary ;O)"

I'd use it on sand nests as well so that they'd rather dig their nest against the glass.

[UKant]

So no ideas, about

Normal Light < Red Light < Natural Darkness

or...

Normal Light = Red Light < Natural Darkness


?

I guess it wouldnt hurt if i would put red on them, but red reduces vision to humans as well, so if its no use, then i would rather not do it.

[gonzobey]

You can make a testing where the ants would show you which kind of deepness in red foil is the best for them. I talked about this test above, now more exlantations to this.

You red foil in one part of the nest, then one part with double red foil and one part with none. You will see where the ants settle and so the make the choise and you can be sure that this choise is surely approproate to the specie.

best regards
Bianca

[Mika]

I have a better one.

Give the ants 'total darkness', one layer of red foil, and two layers of red foil, and no cover to choose from. If the brood tending workers choose the darkness, they can see the red light. Make sure there are no diffirence in temperature and moisture; sometimes my Lasius niger place their cocoons in the light, because of teh temperature diffirence.

Two layers of red foils just means: less light, if they can see the wavelenghts.

[Anarky]

Hi, I have been experimenting with my myrmica rubra colony's sensitivity to red light.

I have an ytong nest and a ton of red cellophane.

I first placed one layer then two and three etc. of cellophane over the nest and allowed them an hour in full daylight to acclimatize for each, they moved to a tiny section where i had made it pitch black every time.

Also, when i placed an opaque black sheet over the red cellophane they moved out again to the rest of the nest. immediately when i lifted it off, they ran for darkness despite the number of layers of cellophane.

Even if they cannot see red light, they are definitely able to sense the light intensity and know they are not in darkness.

[JimmyVe]

Very nice experiment Anarky.