Bachelor- / Master-Thesis

Pollution and Perception: How ozone degrades social discrimination systems in ants

05.03.2026, Studentische Hilfskräfte, Praktikantenstellen, Studienarbeiten

Ants recognize their nestmates by "smelling” the waxy hydrocarbons on each other’s bodies—but ozone pollution can chemically alter these cues and confuse entire colonies. This project dives into the chemosensory mechanisms behind this phenomenon: How do antennal sensilla detect oxidized versus intact hydrocarbons? You will combine behavioral assays and chemical analysis to unravel how environmental change reshapes insect communication.

Pollution and Perception: How ozone degrades social discrimination systems in ants
Ants rely on cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) to recognize nestmates and maintain colony cohesion. Recent findings show that oxidizing pollutants such as ozone selectively degrade CHC compounds, which disrupts social communication, alters colony behavior and leads to elevated aggression across multiple ant species.
However, it remains unknown how the ant olfactory system perceives the difference between oxidized and non oxidized CHC profiles. This gap is critical because the behavioral consequences imply that ants encode subtle chemical alterations at the sensory neural level.
This project aims to identify antennal sensilla responsive to oxidized vs. intact CHCs using single sensillum recordings (SSR), mirroring the behavioral disruptions observed after ozone exposure.

Time frame:
This project can be started year-round, start date flexible, project time can be adjusted according to the type of thesis, internship, "Forschungspraktikum” etc.

Requirements:
Self-sufficient, reliable and precise work ethic in the lab. Experience with analytical chemistry not required as this will be taught in the project, but some experience with data analysis through statistical programs such as R would be beneficial.

Kontakt: jan.buellesbach@tum.de