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Corpse-associated odours elicit avoidance in invasive ants.

Thomas Wagner1, Tomer J Czaczkes1

  • 1Animal Comparative Economics Laboratory, Faculty of Biology and Preclinical Medicine, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.

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Ants learn to avoid food sources that smell like dead ants, impacting pest control. This corpse-odor association may explain why some toxic baits fail, suggesting new strategies for invasive ant management.

Keywords:
Linepithema humileant learningbait avoidancecorpse avoidancenegative stimulusodour association

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Area of Science:

  • Ecology
  • Behavioral Ecology
  • Pest Management

Background:

  • Invasive ants like the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) present a significant global challenge.
  • Current pest control strategies, particularly baiting, often show limited success, with control failures poorly understood.
  • Understanding ant behavior, specifically their response to olfactory cues, is crucial for developing effective management tactics.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if ants associate food odors with the scent of conspecific corpses.
  • To determine if this learned association leads to avoidance of food sources.
  • To explore the implications of this behavior for the efficacy of ant baits in pest control.

Main Methods:

  • Ants were exposed to scented corpses or dummies in a Y-maze.
  • Foraging behavior was observed in response to food sources scented with corpse-associated odors.
  • Dual-feeder tests assessed feeding preferences when exposed to conspecific corpse odors.

Main Results:

  • A significant majority of ants (69%) avoided branches scented with conspecific corpses.
  • Colonies showed reduced foraging activity (42%) at food sources associated with corpse odors.
  • Ants did not avoid corpse-associated scents when the corpses were derived from ants that consumed toxicant, nor did they avoid food sources scented with conspecific corpse odors in dual-feeder tests.

Conclusions:

  • Conspecific corpses function as a negative stimulus, potentially leading ants to avoid toxic baits.
  • Modifying baits by adding odors and cycling them could disrupt bait-corpse associations and improve control.
  • While avoidance of bait areas was observed, significant changes in overall feeding preferences were not detected.