Meeting Abstract
Ants communicate with their fellow colony members through the use of pheromones. Not only do ants communicate through scent, but they can also distinguish whether another ant is “friend or foe” by the number of hydrocarbons on the cuticle. Studies have also shown that ants can identify other ants of the same species that are infected with the cordyceps fungus. In our study, we collected various deceased ants of various species infected with the entomopathogenic fungi, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, and studied how healthy ants of the same and different species responded while near the infected host. For each species, we placed them into a testing chamber and recorded the interaction between the healthy ant and the cordyceps infected ant for two minutes. Similar studies were conducted using non-parasitic fungi and deceased, non-infected ants. Video interactions were then analyzed with Noldus Ethovision XT software. While it was predicted that ants would stay away from the cordyceps infected host, some exhibited the opposite behavior and explored it.
