Odors produced by soil microbes attract red fire ants to safer nest sites

Thursday, September 10, 2020 - 13:00 in Biology & Nature

Newly mated queens of the red fire ant select nest sites with a relatively low pathogen risk by detecting odors produced by soil bacteria that inhibit the growth of ant-infecting fungi, according to a study published September 10 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Daifeng Cheng and Yongyue Lu of South China Agricultural University, and colleagues. As noted by the authors, this is the first time that the chemical signals of soil microorganisms have been reported to affect the nesting choice of newly mated queens.

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