Trophic Ecology of Ant Invasions as Revealed Through Stable Isotope Analysis.

通过稳定同位素分析揭示蚂蚁入侵的营养生态。

• 批准号: 0516452
• 负责人: Andrew Suarez
• 金额: $ 9.46万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-01 至 2006-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0516452&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Trophic; Ecology; Ant; Invasions; Revealed

Invasive species are now thought to be an important component of global change. Examining the impacts and mechanisms of their success has therefore become of paramount importance. One of the most damaging and costly invasive species in agricultural, urban, and natural environments is the Argentine ant. Despite numerous studies on its biology and ecological impacts, very little is known about the dietaryinputs of this species because direct measures of the ant's diet are very difficult to undertake. This information is essential for both understanding how Argentine ants affect the communities they invade as well as developing biologically based control strategies for invasive ants. The research in this proposal will examine the dietary inputs of Argentine ants and the ecology of systems they invade using naturally occurring stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen. Stable isotope analysis traces the flow of nutrients through communities and permits an estimate of the dietary inputs of animals. In our initial objective, for we have received funding, we will conduct experiments to develop baseline readings of isotopic values for Argentine ants in simple food webs. These data will help us interpret results of subsequent field research.

入侵物种现在被认为是全球变化的重要组成部分。 因此，研究其成功的影响和机制变得至关重要。阿根廷蚂蚁是农业、城市和自然环境中最具破坏性和成本最高的入侵物种之一。 尽管对其生物学和生态影响进行了大量研究，但对该物种的饮食投入知之甚少，因为很难对蚂蚁的饮食进行直接测量。 这些信息对于了解阿根廷蚂蚁如何影响它们入侵的群落以及制定基于生物学的入侵蚂蚁控制策略至关重要。 该提案中的研究将利用天然存在的稳定碳同位素和氮同位素检查阿根廷蚂蚁的饮食投入以及它们入侵的系统的生态学。 稳定同位素分析可以追踪营养物质在群落中的流动，并可以估计动物的饮食投入。 在我们最初的目标中，由于我们已经获得了资金，我们将进行实验来开发简单食物网中阿根廷蚂蚁同位素值的基线读数。 这些数据将帮助我们解释后续实地研究的结果。