Asymmetric Competition and Population Dynamics in the Fire Ant

火蚁Solenopsis invicta倾向于大量定居在新干扰的土地上，最初创造了非常密集的新殖民地种群。随着这些殖民地的壮大，它们通过窃取后代和领土战争相互竞争。由此导致的蜂群死亡导致种群随着殖民地及其领土的增长而自我消瘦。大蜂群扩张是以牺牲小蜂群为代价的。通过实验和统计学相结合的方法，Tschinkel博士将确定群体大小差异是如何产生的，以及它们和初始群体密度在间伐过程中如何影响群体的密度、间距和大小分布。他还将研究预测个体群体生长和生存的因素以及竞争的行为方面。这项研究将对了解这些群居昆虫的种群动态，特别是种群大小的重要性以及蚂蚁和植物种群之间的相似性做出重要贡献。此外，这项工作具有实际意义，因为由于对火蚁种群动态的缺乏了解，控制或管理火蚁的尝试往往失败。这项研究将有助于填补这一空白，从而改进未来的控制策略。

The fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, tends to colonize newly disturbed land in large numbers, creating initially very dense populations of newly founded colonies. As these colonies grow, they compete with one another through brood-stealing and territorial warfare. The resulting colony mortality causes the population to self-thin as colonies and their territories grow. Large colonies expand at the expense of small ones. By a combination of experimental and statistical methods, Dr. Tschinkel will determine how colony size differences are created and how they and initial colony density affect the density, spacing and size distribution of colonies during thinning. He will also study the factors which predict growth and survivorship of individual colonies and the behavioral aspects of competition. This research will make important contributions to understanding population dynamics of these social insects, especially the importance of colony size and similarities between ant and plant populations. In addition, the work has practical implications since attempts at fire ant control or management have often failed because of the poor understanding of its population dynamics. This study will help fill this gap and thus improve future control strategies.