Plant odors trigger clearing behavior in foraging trails- do they represent olfactory obstacles?
Acromyrmex lobicornis
Clearing behavior
Communication
Interference
Plant secondary metabolites
Plant volatiles
Journal
Behavioural processes
ISSN: 1872-8308
Titre abrégé: Behav Processes
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 7703854
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Dec 2019
Dec 2019
Historique:
received:
20
06
2019
revised:
07
10
2019
accepted:
19
10
2019
pubmed:
2
11
2019
medline:
20
2
2020
entrez:
1
11
2019
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
Foraging trails of leaf-cutting ants may be exposed to plant material that interferes with foragers' flux either by physically blocking it or due to secondary metabolites which affect insect behavior. We hypothesized that plant secondary metabolites such as plant volatiles may interfere with pheromone communication, triggering clearing behavior. We impregnated small pieces of paper with different plant odors from native and exotic species and placed them in the middle of foraging trails of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex lobicornis. As a control, we used papers impregnated with trail odor. The paper used as substrate for the odors did not constitute a physical obstacle based on its small surface area. Papers treated with trail odor did not interfere with ant flux and were not removed from the trail. However, when papers were treated with plant odors, they were removed from the trail in most of the cases and ant flux was reduced significantly by 15-28%. We found that ants tapped the tip of their gaster against the ground around the treated papers only when they were impregnated with foreign odors. The number of gaster tappings as well as the time between the placement of the paper and its removal increased with plant odor concentration. However, the decision to remove the paper was not correlated with the number of gaster tappings. Interestingly, clearer ants were smaller than forager ants, suggesting there is morphological differentiation in clearing behavior of the trail. Results from the current study also suggest that odors trigger clearing behavior on foraging trails and affect trail marking behavior. Our results provide information about the potential for plant compounds to constitute obstacles, even when they do not physically obstruct the trail. We conclude that odors may trigger clearing behavior by interfering with pheromone communication.
Identifiants
pubmed: 31669749
pii: S0376-6357(19)30261-X
doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2019.103989
pii:
doi:
Substances chimiques
Pheromones
0
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
103989Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.