Quantifying Australian bull ants’ navigational behaviour in complex environments

Australian bull ants are excellent visual navigators despite their poor vision and small brains. While our understanding of their neurophysiology is rapidly advancing, developing better tools for understanding their complex and varied navigational behaviour is crucial for untangling the interplay between brains, perception, and the environment as mediated by behaviour. In this talk we explore the results of navigational and learning experiments and highlight the insights that would not be possible without the fidelity and scope these new tools allow.

Short Bio

Trevor Murray is a neuroethologist working to understand how insects, with such tiny brains, can so effectively navigate through our complex world. Based in the Cheng lab at Macquarie University, he works at the intersection of animal behaviour, visual perception, and computation, frequently combining techniques such as machine learning, photogrammetry, virtual reality with traditional fieldwork techniques to better understand the navigational decisions of insects.

His current project (AUSMURI) is a transdisciplinary collaboration that applies insect navigational insights to develop tools for autonomous navigation. Previously he worked at Australian National University and contributed to the development of the Antarium, a reconstructed reality arena for ants.

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