FORAGING BEHAVIOR AND OLFACTION IN THE LEAF CUTTING ANT ACROMYRMEX AMBIGUUS

AYELEN NALLY; FERNANDEZ PATRICIA; LOCATELLI FERNANDO

Montevideo

Congreso; COMPORTA 2019; 2019

COMPORTA

Ants rely on olfactory cues to extractecologically relevant information from the environment and to find foodsources. Thus, understanding the neurobiology of olfaction and identifying theolfactory cues that guide foraging behavior in leaf-cutting ants provide tools forsustainable management of pest ants in commercial plantations. We focus ourstudy on ants of the species Acromyrmexambiguus that affect willow and poplar commercial plantations at the Deltadel Parana region. By observations in the field we selected native plantsspecies that grow up spontaneously in the same region and would have thepotential to be used as natural stimuli to attract o deter ants. A hierarchy ofpreferred and non-preferred native plants was established in the field based onobservation of damage by natural herbivory. Afterwards, attraction or rejectionof the same plants was evaluated in finely controlled selection assaysperformed on laboratory conditions. We established a hierarchy of plant preferences,and recognized plants species that are always rapidly accepted, and plantsspecies that are not accepted or even rejected. Afterwards, we evaluatedforaging dynamics by video-analysis and identified sequential steps along theforaging behavior, probably indicating the existence of initial olfactory cuesthat affect the approach to the plant, and later gustatory cues that affect theleaf-cutting and carrying-to-the-nest behavior. We are now focused onunderstanding in which extent attraction or rejections to specific plant odorsis based on innate preferences or on previous experiences of the individualants or the colony.