Are red imported fire ants facilitators of native seed dispersal?
Are red imported fire ants facilitators of native seed dispersal?
复制标题
红火蚁是本地种子传播的促进者吗？
DOI：
10.1007/s10530-009-9579-0
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发表时间：
2010
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
C. Carroll
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Katharine L Stuble;L. Kirkman;C. Carroll
入侵蚂蚁威胁本地社区，部分原因是它们有可能破坏互惠关系，但入侵物种也可能促进本地物种。红火蚁（Solenopsis invicta）是北美最引人注目的入侵蚂蚁之一，其高密度，加上其取代本地蚂蚁的潜力，导致人们担心它可能会破坏蚂蚁-植物种子传播互惠关系。我们研究了火蚁传播种子的潜力，在长叶松生态系统中，通过比较火蚁与本地蚂蚁去除elaiosome轴承种子。共有14种蚂蚁被观察到移除种子，其中火蚁占所有移除数量的一半以上。虽然火蚁是该系统中占主导地位的种子去除者，但它们并没有去除比根据其人口密度（46%的地面蚂蚁）预期的更多的种子。此外，红火蚁的种子移动的距离和频率方面的本地蚂蚁相似的种子移动回巢。火蚁密度较高的地区被发现有更大的蚂蚁种子去除率，而没有随后下降的种子传播本地蚂蚁，这表明火蚁入侵的地区可能会经历整体水平较高的种子传播。因此，火蚁实际上可能促进长叶松生态系统中的elaiosome轴承植物物种的扩散。
Invasive ants threaten native communities, in part, through their potential to disrupt mutualisms, yet invasive species may also facilitate native species. The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) is one of the most conspicuous invasive ants in North America and its high densities, combined with its potential to displace native ants, have led to concerns that it may disrupt ant-plant seed dispersal mutualisms. We examined the potential of fire ants to disperse seeds in the longleaf pine ecosystem by comparing the removal of elaiosome-bearing seeds by fire ants versus native ants. A total of 14 ant species were observed removing seeds, with fire ants responsible for more than half of all removals. While fire ants were the dominant seed remover in this system, they did not remove significantly more seeds than would be expected based on their population density (46% of ground-dwelling ants). Moreover, red imported fire ants were similar to native ants with respect to distance of seed movement and frequency of moving seeds back to the nest. Areas of higher fire ant densities were found to have greater rates of seed removal by ants without a subsequent drop in seed dispersal by native ants, suggesting that fire ant-invaded areas may experience overall higher levels of seed dispersal. Thus, fire ants may actually facilitate dispersal of elaiosome-bearing plant species in the longleaf pine ecosystem.