Cataglyphis urens desert ants use olfaction to locate their dead arthropod food, and we conducted trials to determine if vegetation interfered with their foraging ability. In each trial, two dead crickets were placed 1m apart and 1m upwind of the entrance to an ant colony. One cricket had a ring of dead vegetation, 40 cm in diameter, placed around it and the other did not (open). We traced 50 cm diameter circles in the sand around the open cricket and also outside of the vegetation ring. Ants touched the 50 cm circle around the open cricket first significantly more often (23) than they touched the circle outside the vegetation ring first (10 times). They touched the open cricket first significantly more times (27) than they touched the cricket surrounded by vegetation first (6 times). We also deployed 47 pairs of pit traps. Traps of a pair were placed 1 m apart from each other, one in open sand and the other in the interior of a short shrub. There were significantly more unvegetated traps of a pair with more ants (18) than vegetated traps of a pair with more ants (6). Cataglyphis urens shows higher activity levels in open sand compared with vegetated microhabitats, and vegetation interferes with their foraging efficiency, and possibly their ability to find food.

Cataglyphis urens沙漠蚂蚁利用嗅觉来定位死去的节肢动物食物，我们进行了试验以确定植被是否干扰了它们的觅食能力。在每次试验中，两只死蟋蟀被放置在蚁群入口上风方向 1m 处，相距 1m 。一只蟋蟀周围有一圈直径 40 厘米的枯死植物，而另一只则没有（张开）。我们在开放的蟋蟀周围以及植被环外部的沙子上画出了直径 50 厘米的圆圈。蚂蚁首先接触开放蟋蟀周围 50 厘米圆圈的次数 (23 次) 明显多于首先接触植被环外圆圈的次数 (10 次)。他们首先触摸开放的蟋蟀的次数（27 次）明显多于他们首先触摸被植被包围的蟋蟀的次数（6 次）。我们还部署了 47 对坑式陷阱。一对诱捕器彼此相距 1 m，一个位于开阔的沙地中，另一个位于矮灌木的内部。蚂蚁较多的一对中，无植物的陷阱 (18) 明显多于蚂蚁较多的一对中的植物陷阱 (6)。与植被微生境相比，Cataglyphis urens在开阔的沙地中表现出更高的活动水平，而植被会干扰它们的觅食效率，并可能影响它们寻找食物的能力。