Well, that stinks

By

September 2, 2015

Camponotus floridanus

The Florida carpenter ant, Camponotus floridanus. PHOTO: April Nobile / © AntWeb.org / CC-BY-SA-3.0

For years, technicians have been reminded that wearing cologne or smoking cigarettes around ant baits isn’t a great idea, as the odors can interfere with bait success. A new study from the University of California-Riverside finds that ants are even more sensitive to smells than originally thought. In fact, the Florida carpenter ants (Camponotus floridanus) used in the study have more smell-sensing genes than humans do, the researchers said.

The study, which was first reported in the Aug. 13 edition of the journal Cell Reports, looks at how strong odors can confuse an ant colony. This is because living in close quarters means scents are a form of basic communication among workers, the queen and other individuals.

According to a report on LiveScience.com:

The researchers tested how the ants react to different odors by sticking tiny glass electrodes into single sensory hairs on the insects’ antennae, which were then exposed to puffs of different hydrocarbons. The electrodes acted like sensors to show whether each antenna was responding and if the ant had recognized a smell. The researchers discovered that ants are highly sensitive to chemical changes, with sensory neurons able to respond to a variety of subtly different hydrocarbon odors.

The scientists were also curious about whether the ants understood the actual chemical compound. So in a second experiment, the researchers paired one hydrocarbon with a sugary reward and one with plain water.

“We found that the ants were really superb at being able to make [their] way to the hydrocarbon that had originally been paired with the reward,” lead researcher Dr. Anandasankar Ray, a UC-R associate professor of entomology, told LiveScience.com. “It’s a very unusual ability that I think is unique to social insects that live in large colonies.”

Ray went on to explain how when “ants get so close when they touch antennae and sniff each other, it is the equivalent of “shaking hands and exchanging business cards.’” A strong odor overpowering these subtle scents, then, could have a chaotic effect.

 

Category:
Tags:

About the Author

Heather Gooch

Heather Gooch is the editor-in-chief for PMP magazine. She can be reached at hgooch@northcoastmedia.net or 330-321-9754.

Leave A Comment

Comments are closed.