Galante, Henrique and De Agro, Massimo and Koch, Alexandra and Kau, Stefanie and Czaczkes, Tomer J. (2024) Acute exposure to caffeine improves foraging in an invasive ant. ISCIENCE, 27 (6): 109935. ISSN , 2589-0042
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Argentine ants, Linepithema humile , are a particularly concerning invasive species. Control efforts often fall short likely due to a lack of sustained bait consumption. Using neuroactives, such as caffeine, to improve ant learning and navigation could increase recruitment and consumption of toxic baits. Here, we exposed L. humile to a range of caffeine concentrations and a complex ecologically relevant task: an open landscape foraging experiment. Without caffeine, we found no effect of consecutive foraging visits on the time the ants take to reach a reward, suggesting a failure to learn the reward's location. However, under low to intermediate caffeine concentrations ants were 38% faster with each consecutive visit, implying that caffeine boosts learning. Interestingly, such improvements were lost at high doses. In contrast, caffeine had no impact on the ants' homing behavior. Adding moderate levels of caffeine to baits could improve ant's ability to learn its location, improving bait efficacy.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | MUSHROOM BODIES; ARGENTINE ANT; NAVIGATION; NECTAR; MEMORY; ERADICATION; HONEYBEES; RESPONSES; BEHAVIOR; |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 500 Natural sciences & mathematics 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 28 Jul 2025 11:54 |
| Last Modified: | 28 Jul 2025 11:54 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/63798 |
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