US-South Africa Dissertation Enhancement: Argentine Ants in the South African Fynbos: Effects on Proteas and Their Arthropod Visitors

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0114923Root This dissertation enhancement grant supports a US graduate student, Ms. Lori Lach, working under the guidance of Professor Richard Root, with the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University, to conduct a study in South Africa on Argentine ants in the South African fynbos, and their effects on proteas and their arthropod visitors.Invasive species are a threat not only to agricultural and economic systems, but also to the conservation of native flora and fauna. Argentine ants in particular are a worldwide problem. In the protea-rich South African fynbos native ants and the seeds they disperse are being endangered by the invasive Argentine ant. Ms. Lach will experimentally test the hypotheses that: 1) an invasive species, the Argentine ant, has detrimental effects on pollination in the biologically fragile area of the South African fynbos; 2) that a facultative mutualism may facilitate impacts of this invader; and 3) that the invader may be exerting these effects because it is able to escape floral defenses used on the native ant species. Dr. Michael Picker, of the Zoology Department at the University of Cape Town, will provide guidance on this project to Ms. Lach. The results are expected to increase the current knowledge about Argentine ants and their impact on fynbos flowers and their arthropod visitors, and provide additional information on the effects of invasive species on ant/plant interactions. The findings should also have broad application to conservation biology and invasion ecology.This project is being jointly funded by the Division of International Programs and the Division of Environmental Biology.