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ViewAttendees 11

PBT

Student Competition 10-Minute Paper

Undergrad 10-min: PBT, General

Western carpenter ants, Camponotus modoc, are attracted to floral odorants

On-Demand
Student Competition On-Demand
Western carpenter ants, Camponotus modoc, have a large foraging range in coastal mountains of British Columbia (BC). While it is known that C. modoc workers mark trails between food sources and their nest with a trail pheromone recently identified as (2S,4R,5S)-2,4-dimethyl-5-hexanolide, it was not known whether they locate new food resources by chance encounter or in response to long-range airborne odorants. Here, we tested the hypothesis that nectar-foraging C. modoc workers are attracted to inflorescence odorants from BC-native forest flowers. In Y-tube olfactometers, we demonstrated attraction of singly-tested ants to excised inflorescences, and then captured the headspace odorants of attractive inflorescences on the adsorbent Porapak Q. Analyzing aliquots of these Porapak Q extracts by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, we identified the floral odorants and prepared synthetic odorant blends. Further Y-tube olfactometer bioassays revealed attraction of ants to both Porapak Q extracts of inflorescences and to synthetic odorant blends. Based on our results, the attraction of ants to inflorescences appears to be mediated by the species-specific inflorescence bouquet rather than common constituents shared between attractive bouquets. Our data support the hypothesis that nectar-foraging C. modoc workers locate inflorescences of forest plants by means of long-distance olfactory cues rather than chance encounter.