Colony-structure variation and interspecific competitive ability in the invasive Argentine ant
Colony-structure variation and interspecific competitive ability in the invasive Argentine ant
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DOI：
10.1007/s00442-003-1414-1
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发表时间：
2004-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
Suarez, AV
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Holway, DA;Suarez, AV
一些入侵物种的成功可能取决于引进后发生的表型变化。在阿根廷蚂蚁(Linephema Humile)中，引入的种群通常缺乏种内攻击性，但本地种群通常表现出这种行为。我们使用三种方法来检验这种行为转变可能如何影响种间竞争能力。在一项实验室实验中，我们用一对阿根廷蚂蚁群体饲养了Forelius mccooki群体，这些群体要么表现出种内攻击性，要么没有表现出种内攻击性。与种内攻击性蚂蚁对饲养的相比，种内非攻击性阿根廷蚂蚁对饲养的F.mccooki产卵更少，觅食更少，支持的活工蚁也更少。在相互竞争的阿根廷蚂蚁和麦氏蚂蚁相互竞争的自然接触区，引入与同种野外蚁群战斗的实验阿根廷蚂蚁群体使矮小蚁在麦氏蚂蚁存在的情况下放弃了诱饵，而引入不与阿根廷蚂蚁的田间蚁群战斗的群体则使阿根廷蚂蚁保留了对诱饵的占有。群体结构变化的潜在重要性的其他证据来自阿根廷蚂蚁的本土范围。在阿根廷拉普拉塔河沿岸的一个地点，我们发现，在两个不同的采样年份，蚂蚁丰富度和矮小蚁密度(显然是群落结构的地方差异的函数)之间存在反向关系。
The success of some invasive species may depend on phenotypic changes that occur following introduction. In Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) introduced populations typically lack intraspecific aggression, but native populations display such behavior commonly. We employ three approaches to examine how this behavioral shift might influence interspecific competitive ability. In a laboratory experiment, we reared colonies of Forelius mccooki with pairs of Argentine ant colonies that either did or did not exhibit intraspecific aggression. F. mccooki reared with intraspecifically non-aggressive pairs of Argentine ants produced fewer eggs, foraged less actively, and supported fewer living workers than those reared with intraspecifically aggressive pairs. At natural contact zones between competing colonies of L. humile and F. mccooki, the introduction of experimental Argentine ant colonies that fought with conspecific field colonies caused L. humile to abandon baits in the presence of F. mccooki, whereas the introduction of colonies that did not fight with field colonies of Argentine ants resulted in L. humile retaining possession of baits. Additional evidence for the potential importance of colony- structure variation comes from the Argentine ant's native range. At a site along the Rio de la Plata in Argentina, we found an inverse relationship between ant richness and density of L. humile (apparently a function of local differences in colony structure) in two different years of sampling.