Abstract
Using radioactive iodine-labelled honey water, we traced carpenter ants (Camponotus sp.) in six buildings using a scintillation detector. The best trade-off obtained between safety and practicality was a 1-ml bait dose of 4 MBq 131I. The bait was placed close to an ant trail. A 4-MBq dose gave around 100 counts/s at the radioactive focus in the building, but fewer behind thick concrete structures where bait doses should be doubled. In two buildings, ant colonies were revealed at the radioactive foci. The radiation throughout the experiments never exceeded the limits set by the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) for the public. Thus, use of radioactive iodine might be a powerful tool in research for investigating carpenter ant nesting behaviour in buildings.
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