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Wagner, Diane; Brown, Mark J. F.; Broun, Pierre; Cuevas, William; Moses, Lincoln E.; Chao, Dennis L.; Gordon, Deborah M.

doi:10.1023/a:1020781508889

Cited by 107 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Importantly, CHC profiles among individual workers of a colony are not as uniform as previously assumed. Workers have task-specific CHC profiles because task performance, e.g., nest building, brood tending, or foraging outside the nest influence the CHC profiles (Wagner et al, 1998; Kaib et al, 2000). Furthermore, the mixing of CHCs between individuals of a colony is not complete because workers within a task-group encounter and interact with each other more frequently than between task-groups (Sendova-Franks and Franks, 1995; Mersch et al, 2013; Pamminger et al, 2014; Tschinkel and Hanley, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning Distinct Chemical Labels of Nestmates in Ants

Neupert

Hornung

Millar

et al. 2018

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Colony coherence is essential for eusocial insects because it supports the inclusive fitness of colony members. Ants quickly and reliably recognize who belongs to the colony (nestmates) and who is an outsider (non-nestmates) based on chemical recognition cues (cuticular hydrocarbons: CHCs) which as a whole constitute a chemical label. The process of nestmate recognition often is described as matching a neural template with the label. In this study, we tested the prevailing view that ants use commonalities in the colony odor that are present in the CHC profile of all individuals of a colony or whether different CHC profiles are learned independently. We created and manipulated sub-colonies by adding one or two different hydrocarbons that were not present in the original colony odor of our Camponotus floridanus colony and later tested workers of the sub-colonies in one-on-one encounters for aggressive responses. We found that workers adjust their nestmate recognition by learning novel, manipulated CHC profiles, but still accept workers with the previous CHC profile. Workers from a sub-colony with two additional components showed aggression against workers with only one of the two components added to their CHC profile. Thus, additional components as well as the lack of a component can alter a label as “non-nestmate.” Our results suggest that ants have multiple-templates to recognize nestmates carrying distinct labels. This finding is in contrast to what previously has been proposed, i.e., a widening of the acceptance range of one template. We conclude that nestmate recognition in ants is a partitioned (multiple-template) process of the olfactory system that allows discrimination and categorization of nestmates by differences in their CHC profiles. Our findings have strong implications for our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of colony coherence and task allocation because they illustrate the importance of individual experience and task associated differences in the CHC profiles that can be instructive for the organization of insect societies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning Distinct Chemical Labels of Nestmates in Ants

Neupert

Hornung

Millar

et al. 2018

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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“…The hydrocarbons of the cuticle can also convey information via chemical signaling. When one insect encounters another, the cuticular hydrocarbon profile may signal any or all of the following: (i) that the individual is a member of the same species [25]; (ii) of the same colony; (iii) male or female [30]; (iv) caste membership [31]; (v) whether the individual is a close family relation, or a dominant member of the colony attempting to pass along an order, or an inferior member standing by to take a command [32]; and (vi) whether the other insect is fertile and ready to mate, or has already copulated [33]. Flies are able to detect cuticular hydrocarbons via the olfactory organs of the maxillary palps and antennae, or by taste, via the organs of the proboscis [28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Affecting Species Identifications of Blow Fly Pupae Based upon Chemical Profiles and Multivariate Statistics

Kranz

Carroll

Dixon

et al. 2017

Insects

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Alternative methods for the identification of species of blow fly pupae have been developed over the years that consist of the analyses of chemical profiles. However, the effect of biotic and abiotic factors that could influence the predictive manner for the tests have not been evaluated. The lipids of blowfly pupae (Cochliomyia macellaria, Lucilia cuprina, Lucilia sericata, and Phormia regina) were extracted in pentane, derivatized, and analyzed by total-vaporization solid phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TV-SPME GC-MS). Peak areas for 26 compounds were analyzed. Here we evaluated one biotic factor (colonization) on four species of blow flies to determine how well a model produced from lipid profiles of colonized flies predicted the species of flies of offspring of wild-caught flies and found very good species identification following 10 generations of inbreeding. When we evaluated four abiotic factors in our fly rearing protocols (temperature, humidity, pupation substrate, and diet), we found that the ability to assign the chemical profile to the correct species was greatly reduced.

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“…In the ant Formica japonica, both alkenes and linear alkanes are necessary for recognition (Akino et al, 2004) whereas in the Argentine ant Linepithema humile, experimental alteration of the relative ratio of the linear alkanes only elicited a behavioral effect when methyl-branched alkanes and alkenes were also present (Greene and Gordon, 2007). Therefore, at least in some cases, linear alkanes may play a role in recognition, perhaps more specifically for caste and social status (Wagner et al, 1998;Greene and Gordon, 2003;Hefetz, 2007;Liebig, 2010;van Oystaeyen et al, 2014), although linear and methyl-branched alkanes and also alkenes may act as fertility signals or queen pheromones (Holman et al, 2010;van Oystaeyen et al, 2014;Smith et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ants Discriminate Between Different Hydrocarbon Concentrations

et al. 2015

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Social insects typically discriminate nestmates from non-nestmates using colony-specific blends of cuticular hydrocarbons, which may be considered as a chemical label. Within a species, the cuticular profile shows approximately the same qualitative set of compounds, although these differ quantitatively among colonies. Thus, the relative proportions of particular hydrocarbons may be higher in individuals of one colony compared to those of another (conspecific) colony. Social insects must perceive these differences in ratios in order to efficiently recognize non-nestmates. However, little is known about the underlying perceptual mechanisms. Here we investigated whether ants can discriminate between different doses of individual linear or methyl-branched hydrocarbons. We used the ant Camponotus aethiops as our study organism and differential conditioning of the maxilla-labium extension response as the experimental procedure, to test olfactory discrimination between two concentrations of the same compound (one rewarded and the other punished), using large (wide range, 1:100) and small differences (narrow range, 1:10) in hydrocarbon concentrations. Ants discriminated well between wide-range concentrations of the same compound, but showed asymmetric generalization between narrow-range concentrations. These results indicate that a certain differential in hydrocarbon concentration is essential for efficient discrimination.

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Cited by 107 publications

References 33 publications

Learning Distinct Chemical Labels of Nestmates in Ants

Learning Distinct Chemical Labels of Nestmates in Ants

Factors Affecting Species Identifications of Blow Fly Pupae Based upon Chemical Profiles and Multivariate Statistics

Ants Discriminate Between Different Hydrocarbon Concentrations

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