Journal of Chemical Ecology最新文献

{"title":"Non-Invasive Sampling of Odours from Tiger (Panthera tigris) and Leopard (Panthera pardus) for Wildlife Conservation.","authors":"B V Aditi, Chena Desai, Darshan Sreenivas, Uma Ramakrishnan, Shannon Olsson","doi":"10.1007/s10886-026-01722-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10886-026-01722-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chemical cues play an important role in mammalian communication, often reflecting an individual's physiological state. Non-invasive sampling of such informative cues holds great potential for wildlife monitoring. Endangered apex predators such as big cats are elusive and challenging to monitor. While existing monitoring techniques estimate numbers or densities, they often fail to provide crucial demographic and physiological information. We adapted a headspace solid-phase field sampling technique adapted for sampling volatiles from urine and faeces of captive Bengal tigers and Indian leopards of known age and sex, and from urine of identified wild Bengal tigers of known age, sex, and reproductive status. Volatiles extracted from these samples were analysed using Thermal Desorption- Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry. The random forest algorithm was used to identify compounds that might be cues for species, age, sex, and reproductive state. Species classification accuracy was consistently high with both urine (0.79 + 0.009) and scat (0.75 + 0.029) volatiles. Classification accuracy of urine volatiles was high for females and young individuals in leopards and tigers, but lower for males and old individuals. Scat volatiles performed better across groups. We also identified putative chemical markers for epilepsy and reproductive state in tigers. This study presents the first chemical characterization of tiger and leopard scats and the first sampling of tiger odours from the wild. Our simple and cost-effective method of sampling tiger and leopard odours offers a novel method of chemical fingerprinting to monitor populations in situ. Importantly, this sampling method and analytical pipeline is broadly applicable to other mammalian species for conservation and ecological studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":15346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Ecology","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148054803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Host Rejection of the White Mustard (Sinapis alba) by a Major Oilseed Rape Pest Is Driven by the Avoidance of Sinalbin.","authors":"Thomas Giguère, Célia El Marahi, Christophe Lunel, Mathieu Bussy, Léo Andruszkow, Chrystelle Paty, Anne Marie Cortesero, Maxime R Hervé","doi":"10.1007/s10886-026-01724-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10886-026-01724-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A key postulate in chemical ecology is that specialist herbivore insects have evolved abilities to tolerate chemical defenses specific to their host plants. Nevertheless, past studies have shown that this assumption does not always hold true. Identifying the compounds responsible for this occasional paradigm shift is essential for improving our understanding of plant-insect interactions, and for the development of new control strategies against specialized insect pests. In this study, we examined the relationship between the chemistry of Sinapis alba L. (Brassicales: Brassicaceae) and adult feeding in Psylliodes chrysocephala L. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), i.e., a Brassicaceae specialist and major oilseed rape pest. A variation in the ability of different S. alba cultivars to resist feeding by this insect pest was exploited to identify deterrent compounds. A comparative bioassay-guided fractionation approach led to the hypothesis that sinalbin, a glucosinolate specific to S. alba and few other brassicaceous species, might deter feeding of P. chrysocephala adults. Pure sinalbin was tested at various concentrations, confirming its deterrent effect at a concentration naturally found in leaves of two-week-old plants, i.e., 15 nmol.mg^- 1 FW. Such results provide new insights into host selection mechanisms of Brassicaceae specialists, i.e., that avoidance of intact glucosinolates may also contribute to preference. From an applied perspective, the identification of sinalbin as a biomarker of resistance in S. alba has the potential to guide future efforts into the development of new management strategies for oilseed rape pests such as P. chrysocephala.</p>","PeriodicalId":15346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Ecology","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148042349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Allelopathic Effects and Cytotoxic Mechanism of Juniperus sabina Essential Oil via Inhibition of Cell Division in Model Plant Species.","authors":"Zhou Shixing, Chen Hongyang, Shan Zixiang, Han Caixia, Shi Kai, Shao Hua","doi":"10.1007/s10886-026-01719-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10886-026-01719-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Juniperus sabina is a dominant species in the desert and mountain ecosystems. There have been reports evaluating its chemical composition and biochemical values, however, investigation on its allelopathic effect which might facilitate its dominance remains largely unexplored, with the major responsible allelochemicals undetermined. In this study, we compared the allelopathic effects of the aqueous extract, ethanol extract, as well as the essential oil (EO) of J. sabina on seed germination and seedling growth of two receiver species, the dicot plant lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and the monocot plant ryegrass (Lolium perenne). Both the extracts and the EO exhibited significant allelopathic effects, with the EO showing the strongest inhibitory effect on the receiver plants: the IC₅₀ values of the EO, the aqueous extract and the ethanol extract on lettuce were 0.203, 2.544 and 8.142 mg/mL, and 1.042, 4.802, and 4.898 mg/mL on ryegrass, respectively; indeed, the EO completely inhibited seed germination of both tested species at a concentration of 4 mg/mL. GC/MS analysis revealed that sabinene (40.1%) and cedrol (12.74%) were the most abundant constituents of the EO. Further bioassays simulating natural conditions confirmed that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) exerted significant inhibitory effects on seed germination and root length development of tested plants. Furthermore, the EO negatively impacted the cell division of Allium sativum, suggesting that it may disrupt the cell division process to suppress plant growth. Taken together, these results suggest that J. Sabina is capable of producing active volatile compounds with allelopathic activity to inhibit seedling growth of receiver species by interfering with the cell division process, which partly explains why it is a dominant species in the communities.</p>","PeriodicalId":15346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Ecology","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147987611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Emission Dynamics of Constitutive and Herbivore-induced Plant Volatiles from Norway Maple (Acer platanoides) Trunk Infested by the Asian Longhorned Beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis (Motschulsky)).","authors":"Jennifer Braun, Robin Tost, Markus Witzler, Carsten Engelhard, Peter Kaul","doi":"10.1007/s10886-026-01718-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10886-026-01718-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early detection of the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis, ALB), a destructive wood-boring pest, remains challenging in living trees. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have gained increasing attention as potential detection cues due to their key roles in plant-insect interactions, yet trunk-based volatile responses to wood-boring herbivores are still poorly understood. Here, we present a detailed case study characterizing constitutive and herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) emitted from a living Acer platanoides trunk infested by ALB. Over six months, trunk emissions were monitored and analyzed noninvasively using thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). Constitutive emissions were dominated by aldehydes and were primarily influenced by abiotic factors such as temperature and light, whereas ALB infestation had only minor effects on their emission rates. In contrast, HIPVs were characterized mainly by terpenoids and exhibited infestation-stage-specific dynamics: monoterpenoids - dominated by p-cymene, (E)-4,8-dimethylnona-1,3,7-triene, and γ-terpinene - prevailed during oviposition, whereas sesquiterpenoids dominated during larval feeding, particularly cyclosativene, α-longipinene, α-copaene, zingiberene, and α-curcumene. In addition, nitrogen- and oxygen-containing volatiles were identified as previously unreported components of the ALB-induced trunk volatile blend. Several induced terpenoids are known to elicit electrophysiological or behavioral responses in ALB and its natural enemies, and therefore represent valuable key compounds that can be utilized for olfactory detection purposes. Though requiring validation with replications and analogous experiments with further plant and insect species, the findings of this study provide valuable mechanistic insights in tritrophic interactions between plant, wood-boring insect and its enemies.</p>","PeriodicalId":15346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Ecology","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13194219/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147982047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Marine Rhodobacterales as Drivers of Ulva Growth: From Macroalgal-Bacterial Interactions to Bioactive Factor Enrichment.","authors":"Johann F Ulrich, Simon B Redlich, Anne Mohr, John Vollmers, Jörn Petersen, Thomas Wichard","doi":"10.1007/s10886-026-01720-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10886-026-01720-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Marine bacteria significantly influence the development and productivity of algal communities. The green seaweed Ulva (Chlorophyta) relies on bacteria that secrete algal growth and morphogenesis-promoting factors (AGMPF). In a reductionist model system of Ulva compressa (cultivar U. mutabilis), the diverse microbiome can be substituted by two key bacteria, Roseovarius sp. MS2 and Maribacter sp. MS6, both of which release AGMPFs, thereby inducing cell division and cell differentiation. Our study examined various algal growth-promoting substances produced by marine Rhodobacterales (Alphaproteobacteria). The exploration survey indicated that 74 of the 97 examined strains demonstrated growth-promoting, cytokine-like action. These findings underscore the extensive impact of marine Rhodobacterales on Ulva growth. Bioactive fractions containing AGMPF activity were enriched from the culture supernatant of Roseovarius sp. strain MS2. Bioactive raw extracts were obtained through bioassay-guided fractionation and semi-preparative high-performance liquid chromatography; cell division-promoting properties were observed, but did not reach the activity level of the harvested supernatant. This study provides new insights that underscore the importance of bacterial-macroalgal interactions for marine ecosystems. Replacing bacteria with AGMPFs, including thallusin, enables the complete thallus formation of axenic Ulva cultures, facilitating various applications in biotechnology and aquaculture.</p>","PeriodicalId":15346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Ecology","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13186880/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147972871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Electrically Stimulated Fire Ants (Solenopsis invicta, Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Release Chemical Cues That Attract Parasitic Pseudacteon Decapitating Flies (Diptera: Phoridae).","authors":"Robert K Vander Meer, Sanford D Porter, Yasmin J Cardoza","doi":"10.1007/s10886-026-01710-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10886-026-01710-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We previously determined that electrically stimulated fire ants release exocrine gland products, e.g., venom, recruitment and alarm pheromones. We hypothesized that exocrine gland emissions from electrically stimulated fire ant workers might attract phorid fly parasitoids of fire ants. Bioassays demonstrated that electrically stimulated worker ants did attract phorid fly parasitoids in the field. Phorid fly (Pseudacteon tricuspis) mass rearing boxes were then used for lab bioassays to determine the glandular source and active components from electrically stimulated fire ants that elicited phorid fly attraction. The crude extract of fire ant poison sacs showed a significant increase in attacking phorid flies at the 10 min evaluation time, whereas purified venom alkaloids had no effect on phorid flies. Dufour's glands (the source of recruitment pheromones) elicited no fly activation/attraction. However, mandibular gland extracts, the source of alarm pheromones, were found to activate and attract phorid flies. Moreover, a previously identified pyrazine alarm pheromone from mandibular glands was found to be the active component. This was confirmed by specific alarm pheromone bioassays showing the expected ephemeral characteristic of the attraction and by directly using synthetic fire ant alarm pheromone. Use of the fire ant alarm pheromone may aid in detecting the presence of phorid flies in the field and in increasing attack/parasitism rates during mass production.</p>","PeriodicalId":15346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Ecology","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13171927/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147929981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Free-Roaming and Captive Cats Prefer Silver Vine to Catnip for Self-Anointing.","authors":"Reiko Uenoyama, Tamako Miyazaki, Sae Ooka, Toshio Nishikawa, Masao Miyazaki","doi":"10.1007/s10886-026-01717-3","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10886-026-01717-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chemical cues that appear potent in controlled laboratory bioassays do not necessarily function as effective behavioural cues under natural conditions, where animals can freely approach or ignore stimuli. How chemical detectability translates into voluntary behavioural engagement, therefore, remains an important unresolved question. Plant-derived semiochemicals provide a tractable system for examining this issue because the same compounds can be presented either as intact natural sources or as purified chemicals. Domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) show a characteristic self-anointing response to iridoid-producing plants, including catnip (Nepeta cataria) and silver vine (Actinidia polygama), both widely regarded as cat-attractants. Here, we tested whether these plants differ in their ability to induce voluntary engagement under free-choice conditions. Free-roaming cats rarely showed self-anointing behaviour (face-rubbing and rolling) toward intact catnip plants, but consistently engaged with silver vine. The same bias toward silver vine was observed in captive cats presented simultaneously with plant extracts. Chemical analyses confirmed that catnip contained abundant bioactive nepetalactone, indicating that weak responsiveness was not explained by a lack of bioactive compounds. These findings demonstrate that chemical abundance and laboratory bioactivity do not necessarily predict behavioural reliability under natural encounter conditions. Instead, whether a cue consistently elicits voluntary engagement may determine its ecological effectiveness as a behavioural cue.</p>","PeriodicalId":15346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Ecology","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13167871/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147930055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Salicylic Acid as a Modulator of Insect Interactions in Tomato Crops.","authors":"Federico Rodrigo, Ana Paula Bertoni, Gianna Zinola, Anna Paula Burgueño, María Eugenia Amorós, Andrés González, Carmen Rossini","doi":"10.1007/s10886-026-01715-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10886-026-01715-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Salicylic acid (SA) is a key regulator of plant defense signaling and is widely used as a plant defense inducer in crop protection. However, its effects on insect host-selection behavior and plant chemical signaling remain incompletely understood. Here, we evaluated how exogenous SA application affects tomato-insect interactions by examining behavioral responses of two major pests, Tuta absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) and Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), together with changes in plant volatile emissions. Tomato plants were sprayed with SA and tested in preference bioassays and Y-tube olfactometer assays, while volatile profiles were analyzed by GC-MS. SA treatment significantly altered the volatile profile of tomato plants and increased the attraction of both insect species in olfactometer assays. However, these responses did not translate into consistent host acceptance: T. absoluta females tended to lay more eggs on SA-treated plants, whereas T. vaporariorum adults tended to settle on untreated plants. Several volatiles that changed after SA application, including 1-octen-3-ol, γ-terpinene, (E)-caryophyllene and α-humulene, have previously been reported to be detected by T. absoluta antennae and may contribute to host-location cues. Together, these findings indicate that SA-induced changes in tomato volatile emissions can modify herbivore attraction, but subsequent host acceptance responses depend on species-specific behavioral mechanisms. These results highlight the complexity of plant defense induction and its potential consequences for pest management strategies. Specifically, our findings suggest that while SA application may contribute to reducing whitefly settlement, it could simultaneously increase the susceptibility of tomato plants to T. absoluta infestation.</p>","PeriodicalId":15346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Ecology","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147929984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Use of FTIR Spectra for Classifying Plant Items in a Vertebrate Herbivore's Diet.","authors":"Marcel Schäfer, Margit Zohmann-Neuberger, Jennifer Sorensen Forbey, Johannes Tintner-Olifiers, Angelika Hromatka, Erich Inselsbacher, Chloé Dépré, Ólafur Karl Nielsen, Ursula Nopp-Mayr","doi":"10.1007/s10886-026-01716-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10886-026-01716-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Availability and quality of vegetation are critical factors influencing herbivore nutrition and population dynamics. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) offers a promising approach to analyze herbivore diets using spectral properties of phytochemicals to identify plant items. We evaluated the potential of FTIR to identify plant taxa and parts consumed by an herbivore species. Crop contents from 236 rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta MONTIN) individuals from Iceland, collected over nine years, were separated into pure fractions of plant taxa and parts (e.g., berries, leaves) and analyzed using FTIR in the mid-IR region (4000 -400 cm⁻¹). We classified plant taxa and parts with PCA and Random Forests (RF) based on spectral signals. FTIR revealed distinct chemical fingerprints for plant taxa and parts, consistent with previously established variation in lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and chemical defenses. RF yielded high classification accuracy for plant parts (96.7%) and moderate accuracy for taxa (85.5%), confirming the method's reliability. FTIR overcomes limitations of traditional genetic analyses by identifying plant parts with varying nutritional quality within species. FTIR provided insights into biochemical properties of plant items but could not distinguish chemically similar items. Future research should expand spectral reference libraries combining FTIR with quantification of phytochemicals and DNA metabarcoding.</p>","PeriodicalId":15346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Ecology","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13158255/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147868714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Consistent Cuticular Hydrocarbon Discrimination of Alkane Mixtures with Proportional Differences in the Ant Camponotus floridanus.","authors":"Victoria Kent, Juergen Liebig","doi":"10.1007/s10886-026-01708-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10886-026-01708-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Discrimination of odorant mixtures is essential in communication and individual recognition in many animals. The number of compounds and the similarity in compound structure can, however, make discrimination challenging. An example is the use of surface hydrocarbons in ants and other social insects to differentiate between colony members and foreigners, or to identify the reproductive status of individuals. These cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) mixtures consist of long-chain compounds, including n-alkanes, that show quantitative variability across individuals and high structural similarity. We explored the limits of discrimination in synthetic CHC mixtures in Camponotus floridanus worker ants. We used differential conditioning to determine whether workers can differentiate between heptacosane (C27) and hentriacontane (C31) alone, in binary mixtures, and in mixtures with pentacosane and nonacosane. Worker ants successfully discriminated all odor pairs in one direction with consistent responses for the mixtures across trials, regardless of whether the ratio of C27 to C31 was 2:1 or 1.33:1 or whether C27 and C31 were increased by 100% or decreased by 50% in the four-compound mixtures. Differentiation success depended on an increased C27/C31 ratio in the rewarded mixture, while workers did not differentiate when C27/C31 was high in the punished mixture. The asymmetry could be due to increased concentration, volatility, or an inherent preference for C27. The successful discrimination indicates n-alkanes could be used for nestmate discrimination and identification of reproductive individuals. The workers’ ability to discriminate among quantitative differences in structurally similar CHC mixtures demonstrates the highly accurate tuning of the ant olfactory system.</p>","PeriodicalId":15346,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chemical Ecology","volume":"52 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2026-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147772836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}