ABSTRACT
Ants exhibit complicated social behaviors via chemical communication. Use of trail pheromones enables ants to attract their colony members and form trails. The presumed properties of trail pheromones such as species specificity, low eco-toxicity, and low effective dosage, could be effective for eco-friendly ant management. Recent studies have explored the possibility of applying trail pheromones to ant management by two approaches. One is by exploiting the effect of trail pheromones to attract target ants. Inclusion of subtle amounts of trail pheromones into current insecticides may result in efficient attracting and killing of the ants. Another approach is to disrupt trail formation of the target ants by dispersing large amounts of synthetic trail pheromones on the ground. Trail disruption results in reduced foraging success of target ants, less competitive ability against other animals, as well as an inability to spread. To put trail pheromones into practical use in the future, development of suitable formulations, in-depth evaluation of eco-toxicity, and commercialization of trail pheromone components, are needed.
