The Ant Who Cried Wolf? Short-Term Repeated Exposure to Alarm Pheromone Reduces Behavioral Response in Argentine Ants.

ABSTRACT: In this study we test whether Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) progressively reduce their response to a salient stimulus (alarm pheromone) with increased exposure over time. First, we used a two-chamber olfactometer to demonstrate three focal behaviors of Argentine ants that indicate an alarmed state in response to conspecific alarm pheromone and pure synthetic iridomyrmecin (a dominant component of L. humile alarm pheromone). We then measured how these behaviors changed after repeated exposure to conspecific alarm pheromone from live ants. In addition, we investigate whether there is a difference in the ants' behavioral response after "short" (3 min) versus "long" (6 min) intervals between treatments. Our results show that Argentine ants do exhibit reduced responses to their own alarm

SUBMITTER: Maccaro JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7762586 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature