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

入侵物种现在被认为是全球变化的一个重要组成部分。因此，审查其成功的影响和机制就变得至关重要。阿根廷蚂蚁是农业、城市和自然环境中最具破坏性和代价最高的入侵物种之一。尽管对蚂蚁的生物学和生态影响进行了大量研究，但人们对该物种的饮食输入知之甚少，因为直接测量蚂蚁的饮食非常困难。这些信息对于了解阿根廷蚂蚁如何影响它们入侵的社区以及制定入侵蚂蚁的生物控制策略都是至关重要的。这项提案中的研究将使用自然产生的稳定碳和氮同位素来检查阿根廷蚂蚁的饮食输入以及它们入侵的系统的生态。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输入。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，以开发简单食物网中阿根廷蚂蚁的同位素值的基线读数。这些数据将帮助我们解读后续实地研究的结果。

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.