Behavioral responses of social insects exposed to repellent essential oils

BUTELER, M.; FERNANDEZ, P.; STADLER, T.

Estocolmo

Conferencia; ICCE 2015 : XIII International Conference on Chemical Engineering; 2015

International Society of Chemical Engineering

Plant defensive compounds can be toxic to herbivores and also prevent attack given they play a role in selection and acceptance of host plants by herbivorous insects. We studied the repellent effect of essential oils of tea tree and lemongrass on Acromyrmex lundi leaf cutting ants and Vespula germanica wasps, two social insects that are pests in Patagonia Argentina. With yellowjackets, we conducted preference tests and no choice tests where we recorded the time taken for the wasps to locate a treated bait. A wind tunnel was used to assess the olfactory response of yellowjacket workers to different doses of essential oils. With ants, we placed the essential oil treatment either on the foraging trail or a treated bait adjacent to it and assessed the response of foraging ants. When given a choice, wasps avoided the treated baits. In no choice tests, the wasps landed on the untreated baits faster than on treated baits. There was a dose response effect where both oils were more repellent at the higher doses in the wind tunnel.In ants, when the essential oils were placed on a foraging trail, traffic stopped until a new foraging trail was established surrounding it. When food baits surrounded by essential oils were placed near the foraging trail, they were not collected even after 48 hours. Untreated baits were collected within 1 hour.These results suggest that repellents show potential as a management strategy for these two insect pests. Further research on formulation and deployment of essential oils is warranted.