Trail Pheromone Disruption of Red Imported Fire Ant |
| |
Authors: | David M Suckling Lloyd D Stringer Barry Bunn Ashraf M El-Sayed Robert K Vander Meer |
| |
Affiliation: | (1) The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Ltd., PB 4704, Christchurch, New Zealand;(2) USDA ARS, 1600 SW 23rd Drive, Gainesville, FL, USA |
| |
Abstract: | The fire ant, Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), is considered one of the most aggressive and invasive species in the world. Toxic bait systems
are used widely for control, but they also affect non-target ant species and cannot be used in sensitive ecosystems such as
organic farms and national parks. The fire ant uses recruitment pheromones to organize the retrieval of large food resources
back to the colony, with Z,E-α-farnesene responsible for the orientation of workers along trails. We prepared Z,E-α-farnesene, (91% purity) from extracted E,E-α-farnesene and demonstrated disruption of worker trail orientation after presentation of an oversupply of this compound
from filter paper point sources (30 μg). Trails were established between queen-right colony cells and food sources in plastic
tubs. Trail-following behavior was recorded by overhead webcam, and ants were digitized before and after presentation of the
treatment, using two software approaches. The linear regression statistic, r
2 was calculated. Ants initially showed high linear trail integrity (r
2 = 0.75). Within seconds of presentation of the Z,E-α-farnesene treatment, the trailing ants showed little or no further evidence of trail following behavior in the vicinity
of the pheromone source. These results show that trailing fire ants become disorientated in the presence of large amounts
of Z,E-α-farnesene. Disrupting fire ant recruitment to resources may have a negative effect on colony size or other effects yet
to be determined. This phenomenon was demonstrated recently for the Argentine ant, where trails were disrupted for two weeks
by using their formulated trail pheromone, Z-9-hexadecenal. Further research is needed to establish the long term effects and control potential for trail disruption in
S. invicta. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|