The name is absent

Chapter 3

CoIony-Level Competition Between Rasberry Crazy Ants (Paratrechina
sp. nr.pubens) and Red Imported Fire Ants (Solenopsis invicta)

Abstract

In further examine whether red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) can provide
biotic resistance to Rasberry crazy ants (Paratrechina sp. nr. pubens), I conducted a
laboratory experiment and a field experiment that examined colony-level competition
between these two species. In the laboratory experiment, colonies of fire ants and crazy
ants were standardized by worker number or by biomass and used as either controls or in
competing pairs. Control colonies had access to a foraging tray with sugar water and
mealworms, while competing colonies shared a foraging tray with a colony of the
opposing species. For both colony sizes, and in both control and competition settings,
crazy ants recruited more quickly and in higher abundances to baits. Crazy ants also
controlled significantly more baits than fire ants did at the end of the experiment. These
results suggest that crazy ants, when evenly matched in colony size with fire ants, are
capable of discovering baits first and excluding fire ants from resources, thus breaking
the dominance-discovery trade-off. In order to simulate the introduction of crazy ants to
new areas, I also conducted a field experiment that moved small crazy ant colonies from
a heavily invaded site to another location 750m away that had not yet been invaded. I
then monitored the ant recruitment to sugar and protein baits for three weeks. Crazy ants
discovered baits more quickly, but were subsequently displaced by fire ants, which
recruited to both sugar and protein in higher abundances than crazy ants and controlled
the majority of baits. Crazy ant recruitment increased through time in crazy ant addition

36

<<   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   >>

More intriguing information