Abbreviated Journal Title
PLoS One
Keywords
SOLENOPSIS-INVICTA HYMENOPTERA; OLD FIELD SUCCESSION; ARTHROPOD; DIVERSITY; NATIVE ANTS; FORMICIDAE; FLORIDA; DISTURBANCE; ECOSYSTEM; COMMUNITIES; LOUISIANA; Multidisciplinary Sciences
Abstract
The association of the exotic fire ant, Solenopsis invicta with man-modified habitats has been amply demonstrated, but the fate of such populations if ecological succession proceeds has rarely been investigated. Resurvey of a fire ant population in a longleaf pine plantation after 25 years showed that the recovery of the site from habitat disturbance was associated with a large fire ant population decline. Most of the persisting colonies were associated with the disturbance caused by vehicle tracks. In a second study, mature monogyne fire ant colonies that had been planted in experimental plots in native groundcover of the north Florida longleaf pine forest had mostly vanished six years later. These observations and experiments show that S. invicta colonies rarely persist in the native habitat of these pine forests, probably because they are not replaced when they die. A single site harbored a modest population of polygyne fire ants whose persistence was probably facilitated by reproduction through colony fission.
Journal Title
Plos One
Volume
8
Issue/Number
10
Publication Date
1-1-2013
Document Type
Article
Language
English
First Page
8
WOS Identifier
ISSN
1932-6203
Recommended Citation
Tschinkel, Walter R. and King, Joshua R., "The Role of Habitat in the Persistence of Fire Ant Populations" (2013). Faculty Bibliography 2010s. 4775.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/facultybib2010/4775
Comments
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