Experimental evidence that the introduced fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, does not competitively suppress co-occurring ants in a disturbed habitat.
@article{King2006ExperimentalET, title={Experimental evidence that the introduced fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, does not competitively suppress co-occurring ants in a disturbed habitat.}, author={Joshua R. King and Walter R. Tschinkel}, journal={The Journal of animal ecology}, year={2006}, volume={75 6}, pages={ 1370-8 } }
1. The fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is a globally distributed invasive ant that is largely restricted to disturbed habitats in its introduced range. For more than half a century, biologists have believed its success results from superior competitive abilities relative to native ant species, as well as an escape from their natural enemies. 2. [] Key Result We used large volumes of hot water to kill fire ant colonies, and only fire ant colonies, on experimental plots in pastures, and found that populations and diversity of co-occurring ants did not subsequently increase. 3. These results are contrary to classical predictions and indicate that S. invicta is not a superior competitor that suppresses native ants, and that the low diversity and abundance of native ants in degraded ecosystems does not result from interaction with fire ants. Instead…
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Habitat disturbance and species invasions interact in natural systems, making it difficult to isolate the primary cause of ecosystem degradation, andalyses of co-occurrence indicate that reduced species density in wet-undisturbed sites arises from negative species interactions between native ants and S. invicta, but these same data suggest that the high native species density at sites in dry-disturbed environments does not result from facilitation.
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