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J Exp Biol

Title:		Trail pheromone modulates subjective reward evaluation in Argentine ants
Author(s):		Rossi N; Pereyra M; Moauro MA; Giurfa M; d'Ettorre P; Josens R;
Address:		"Laboratorio de Insectos Sociales, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biologia Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IFIBYNE, CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria Pab. II. (C1428 EHA), Buenos Aires, Argentina roxy@bg.fcen.uba.ar n.rossi@qmul.ac.uk. Research Centre on Animal Cognition, Center for Integrative Biology, CNRS, University of Toulouse, F-31062 Toulouse Cedex 09, France. Laboratorio de Insectos Sociales, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biologia Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IFIBYNE, CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria Pab. II. (C1428 EHA), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France. Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology, UR4443, University Sorbonne Paris Nord, Villetaneuse, France"
Journal Title:		J Exp Biol
Year:		2020
Volume:		20200911
Issue:		Pt 17
Page Number:		-
DOI:		10.1242/jeb.230532
ISSN/ISBN:		1477-9145 (Electronic) 0022-0949 (Linking)
Abstract:		"The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, is native to South America but has become one of the most invasive species in the world. These ants heavily rely on trail pheromones for foraging, and previous studies have focused on such signals to develop a strategy for chemical control. Here, we studied the effects of pre-exposure to the trail pheromone on sugar acceptance and olfactory learning in Argentine ants. We used the synthetic trail pheromone component (Z)-9-hexadecenal, which triggers the same attraction and trail-following behavior as the natural trail pheromone. We found that pre-exposure to (Z)-9-hexadecenal increases the acceptance of sucrose solutions of different concentrations, thus changing the ants' subjective evaluation of a food reward. However, although ants learned to associate an odor with a sucrose reward, pheromone pre-exposure affected neither the learning nor the mid-term memory of the odor-reward association. Taking into account the importance of the Argentine ant as a pest and invasive organism, our results highlight the importance of pheromonal cues in resource evaluation, a fact that could be useful in control strategies implemented for this species"
Keywords:		Animals *Ants Feeding Behavior Pheromones Reward South America Appetitive olfactory learning Linepithema humile Social insects Sucrose acceptance Trail pheromone;
Notes:		"MedlineRossi, Natacha Pereyra, Muriel Moauro, Mariel A Giurfa, Martin d'Ettorre, Patrizia Josens, Roxana eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2020/07/19 J Exp Biol. 2020 Sep 11; 223(Pt 17):jeb230532. doi: 10.1242/jeb.230532"