Data for "Effects of Azteca trigona alarm pheromones on heterospecific ant behavior"

Data and video files of behavioral responses of Canopy ant species individuals to volatile odors of Azteca trigona ants or control ambient air collected at Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Two videos provide a general examples of the experimental arena and protocol, and the difference between responses to control air and A. trigona headspace air. The single .csv file provides the specific behavioral responses of the individual ants observed and recorded during the behavioral trials.

Data files of headspace samples of Canopy ant species collected at Barro Colorado Island in Panama, collected on volatile collection filters, are also included with these raw data files

Each volatile collection filter was eluted with 150 μl dichloromethane containing 10 ng/μl nonyl acetate as an internal standard. Eluted samples were then analyzed with an Agilent 7890B Gas Chromatograph (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA) in splitless mode with an inlet temperature of 250°C. The initial oven temperature was 35°C for sample injection and then increased 15°C per minute to 250°C with helium as a carrier gas at an average velocity of 22.5 cm s -1 . Samples were resolved on an Agilent DB-5 column (30 m length, 0.25 mm diameter, with a built-in 10 m DuraGuard pre-column). Volatile analytes were detected with an Agilent 5977A Mass Spectrometer with an EI ion source with the MS in scanning mode (50-550 m/z) and transfer line and ion source temperatures set at 230°C and 150°C.

The data were originally analyzed in the native Agilent file format (.D) using Mass Hunter software and converted to netCDF and MS formats specifically for upload to a public repository for portability. Included with the biological samples are the original .D files and three blank samples.