Sagehen Creek Field Station

23 Jul, 02 PM - 27 Jul, 05 AM

Social insects are some of the most diverse and important organisms in many ecosystems. The ants are particularly abundant and ubiquitous, although we still know very little about how their colonies function and how their societies are maintained. One important aspect of social function is being able to identify nestmates, to maintain colony cohesion and prevent intruders. Cuticular hydrocarbons are waxy substances that are on the cuticles of most insects, and are widely used to prevent desiccation. In the ants however, these compounds have been co-opted to be used as nestmate recognition cues, although we still know very little about which of the hydrocarbons are important in recognition and how ants use them in combination with other cues. I propose to sample widely among the ants at several sites including Sagehen in California, to examine patterns in the evolution of cuticular hydrocarbons. These researches will address several questions: 1) Are there evolutionary patterns in the expression of cuticular hydrocarbons? How do cuticular hydrocarbons vary between species? 2) Which hydrocarbons are most important for nestmate recognition? What cuticular hydrocarbons vary between different colonies of the same species? 3) What role does the environment play in the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of ants? How do cuticular hydrocarbons change between different habitats? Outcomes of the proposed investigations will reveal broad patterns in the evolution of cuticular hydrocarbons and will contribute to our knowledge of these compounds as nestmate recognition cues. These results will be made available online for other researchers to access, and the published profiles will help further studies with ants. As a chemical phenotype, cuticular hydrocarbon profiles can be useful for identifying morphologically difficult ants.

Visit #21729 @Sagehen Creek Field Station

Approved

Under Project # 21907 | Research

Cuticular hydrocarbons of ants

graduate_student - University of California, Berkeley

Reservation Members(s)

Virginia Emery Jul 23 - 27, 2010 (5 days)
Group of 2 Undergraduate Student Jul 23 - 27, 2010 (5 days)
Virginia Emery Jul 23 - 27, 2010 (5 days)

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East Cabin (Lower Camp) 4 Jul 23 - 27, 2010
West Cabin (Lower Camp) 4 Jul 23 - 27, 2010