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Air pollution causes social instability in ant colonies, triggering attacks on returning nest mates

  • February 2, 2026 at 8:00 PM
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Air pollution causes social instability in ant colonies, triggering attacks on returning nest mates
A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology has shown in a new study that ants returning from habitats affected by air pollution are attacked when they re-enter the colony. The cause: air pollution, especially ozone, changes the colony-specific odor profile of the animals.

Originally published at Phys.org

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