Thursday, April 21, 2011
Communication is wild
We have known for a long time how ant communication works, for the most part. First, ants can communicate via touch, smell, and even vibrations (sound). However, most ants use chemical communication or pheromones. These chemicals are released from the rear end of the abdomen. These chemicals can have different meaning, depending on the species. Some tell each other of a food source, while others indicate danger. They also use these chemicals to decipher between each other. This decipher can be a signal of what cast a particular ant is in a particular colony. For example, a queen ant gives off a special scent, or chemical, to indicate to the other workers that she is the queen. Also, it helps eliminate other species of ants from wondering into the colony, because the guard ants will immediately notice this ant has a different scent. In the first video, an experiment is done showing how ants will lay a sporadic trail of pheromones until they find a food source. That single ant will then consume as much of the ant source as possible to take back to give to the other ants as evidence almost. On the return journey, the ant no longer will lay a sporadic trail but a continuous one, much more solid and more easy to follow. Also, the strength of the chemical refers to its importance. The more important the issue is, the stronger the chemical. If there is a big threat to the colony, ants will release a strong chemical compound to signal the danger, and that the danger is extreme. This can be related to humans as well for a example. In gas there is a chemical that smells like rotten eggs, to tell people when their gas is running without being burnt. If someone smells a light odor of this chemical "rotten egg" smell, they know they must have recently forgot to turn off the gas (not that big of a deal). However, if you walk into your house and the gas smell is extremely strong, you know you have real potential problem (explosion). In the NOVA video, I want to try that experiment of taking a fire ant and creating a chemical trail on a piece of paper, thus "communicating with the ants." Any ideas on how ants keep track of all these different odors. I mean I would imagine its like being in a room full of people talking at the same time. You can not really understand whats being said unless you focus on one person. Maybe ants are also overwhelmed by every ant laying scents that they only focus on the strongest ones, the important ones.
Source:
Gibson, Roberta. "Questions About Ant Pheromones." Wild About Ants. Wordpress. Jun 27, 2010. Web. April 17, 2011.
Derbyshire, David. "Getting it off their chest: Study reveals how ants talk to each other." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers. Feb 7, 2009. Web. 17 April 2011.
Video Source: "NOVA | Lord of the Ants | The Ant Whisperer | PBS." 19 May 2008. Youtube. Web. 18 April 2011.
"How Ants Communicate With Each Other?" 5 Feb 2009. Youtube. Web. 18 April 2011.
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I think when the ants release the chemicals to let the colony know if there is danger, they tend to take the just in case fact. If there really is danger then i it avoided no matter what. I wonder if they have a ranking or a judgment of which ant to listen to more due to their past claims?
ReplyDeleteMaybe their pheromones they give off when sensed trigger something in the ant that makes them respond to it. Like inherent danger if sensed maybe the ant's biochemistry is effected and they go into retreat mode. I would think that since they need to keep the colony thriving they filter out certain pheromones according to the ones that are most important at a given time and cirumstance and respond to only those. If a majority of the ants are also giving off the same pheromones it would seem that would serve as a way to communicate fast to the rest of the colony.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kara, if a majority of ants give off the same chemical at once, that to me would indicate a strong response and a way to get a signal to everyone in the colony fast. They could use this in a danger response situated. Kind of like bees. When a single sting is released, that chemically tells the rest to attack at once. Perhaps the ants have this same trait?
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