Overview
- After about 20 minutes of exposure to 100 parts per billion ozone, five of six tested ant species attacked their returning, ozone-exposed nestmates.
- Chemical analyses showed that reactive cuticular alkenes, key to colony-specific scent, were degraded across all six species.
- In small-colony experiments, ozone exposure corrupted brood care and resulted in larval deaths.
- The experimental dose mirrors levels often measured in polluted cities during summer, well above the roughly 10 ppb seen in cleaner air.
- The peer-reviewed study, published in PNAS by Max Planck researchers, cautions that oxidizing pollutants could impair eusocial insect societies and damage ecosystems.