Strength in numbers - European fire ants, Myrmica rubra, respond in groups to pheromone signals and foraging cues

On-Demand

Presenting Author(s)

Jonathan Petrov

Burnaby, BC, CAN

Co-Author(s)

Jaime Mathew Chalissery

Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
SN

Saif A. Nayani

Simon Fraser University
Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
RG

Regine Gries

Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
GG

Gerhard Gries

Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia, CAN

European fire ants (EFAs), Myrmica rubra, are significant pests in their invaded North American range, altering the composition of arthropod communities and rendering urban parks unusable for recreational activities. EFAs deposit trail pheromone (3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine) to mark trails between their nest and food sources, and they emit alarm pheromone (3-octanone & 3-octanol) to convey danger to nest mates. All prior studies reporting the identification of these pheromones tested the responses of EFAs in groups. Based on unpublished accounts that single EFAs do not respond well in behavioral bioassays, we tested the hypothesis that EFAs communicate and forage in groups. In Y-tube olfactometer experiments using a gentle air flow, we tested both individual EFAs and groups of EFAs for attraction to airborne natural food odorants and to airborne synthetic trail and alarm pheromones. There is emerging evidence that EFAs respond to olfactory communication signals and foraging cues, and indeed forage and respond to pheromones as a group, but data collection and analyses were still under way by the due date for abstract submission.