From insinuator to dominator: Foraging switching by an exotic ant

Yitbarek, Senay; Vandermeer, John; Perfecto, Ivette

doi:10.1111/ddi.12568

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…and C. picipes pilosulus , would be in the subordinate category too, although their behavior would be better interpreted as that of an insinuator species ( sensu Wilson, 1971). Insinuators arrive in small numbers and discretely steal food ( see Yitbarek, Vandermeer & Perfecto, 2017). What about the cold-climate specialist Formica spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of agricultural land-use change on ant dominance hierarchy and food preferences in a temperate oak forest

Castillo‐Guevara

Cuautle

Lara

et al. 2019

PeerJ

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BackgroundThe discovery-dominance trade-off is the inverse relationship between the ability of a species to discover resources and the species’ dominance of those resources; a paradigm used to explain species coexistence in ant communities dependent on similar resources. However, factors such as stress (e.g., temperature) or disturbance (e.g., removal of biomass) associated with the change in land use, can modify this trade-off. Here, we aimed to determine the potential effects of land use change on dominance hierarchy, food preferences and on the discovery-dominance trade-off.MethodsAn experiment with baits was used to investigate the dominance hierarchies of ant communities in a temperate mountain habitat in central Mexico. We evaluated the dominance index (DI), food preferences and discovery-dominance trade-offs of ants inhabiting two types of vegetation: a native oak forest and agricultural land resulting from agricultural land use and grazing.ResultsThe ant communities in both environments were comprised of three species of ants (Monomorium minimum, Myrmica mexicana, and Camponotus picipes pilosulus), four morphospecies (Pheidole sp.1 and Pheidole sp.2, Temnothorax sp. and Lasius sp.) and one genus (Formica spp.). All Formicidae showed values of intermediate to low DI, and this factor did not seem to be influenced by the change in land use. Ants in the modified vegetation (i.e., agricultural land) were found to be numerically greater. Overall, a higher number of visits were registered to the tuna bait, although the duration of foraging events to the honey baits was longer. However, foraging times were dependent on the species considered: the generalized Myrmicinae, M. minimum, the ant species with highest DI, foraged for longer periods of time in the agricultural land and on the tuna bait. Meanwhile, the cold-climate specialist Formica spp., with a lower DI, foraged for longer periods of time in the oak (although not significant) and on the honey bait. We found little evidence of the discovery-dominance trade-off; instead, we found considerable diversity in the strategies used by the different species to access resources. This range of strategies is well represented by the generalized Myrmicinae M. minimum, the cold-climate specialists Formica spp. and Temnothorax sp., and the rare species, as the cold climate specialist Lasius sp. (insinuators).ConclusionsOur evaluation shows that transformation of the original habitat does not appear to affect the hierarchical dominance of the ant communities, but it does affect their food preferences. Species with higher DI values such as the generalized Myrmicinae are more skilled at resource acquisition in modified habitats. Our results suggest that change in land use promotes an increase in the diversity of foraging strategies used by different ant species. This diversity may contribute to resource partitioning which favors coexistence.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of agricultural land-use change on ant dominance hierarchy and food preferences in a temperate oak forest

Castillo‐Guevara

Cuautle

Lara

et al. 2019

PeerJ

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“…Wasmannia ants and brood were collected by scraping epiphytes and bark from trees and from hollowed out branches collected from the ground. Although Wasmannia ants in the area of the study may exist in large “supercolonies” spread out across farms (Yitbarek et al, 2017 ), we attempted to collect from different areas separated by at least 2 m for each replicate. All ants were kept in containers in the laboratory until the morning of experimental trials, but no longer than 1 week.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An aggressive nonconsumptive effect mediates pest control and multipredator interactions in a coffee agroecosystem

Morris

Perfecto

2022

Ecological Applications

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Natural pest control is an alternative to pesticide use in agriculture, and may help to curb insect declines and promote crop production. Nonconsumptive interactions in natural pest control that historically have received far less attention than consumptive interactions, may have distinct impacts on pest damage suppression and may also mediate positive multipredator interactions.Additionally, when nonconsumptive effects are driven by natural enemy aggression, variation in alternative resources for enemies may impact the strength of pest control. Here we study control of the coffee berry borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei, by a keystone arboreal ant species, Azteca sericeasur, which exhibits a nonconsumptive effect on CBB by throwing them off coffee plants. We conducted two experiments to investigate: (1) if the strength of this behavior is driven by spatial or temporal variability in scale insect density (an alternative resource that Azteca tends for honeydew), (2) if this behavior mediates positive interactions between Azteca and other ground-foraging ants, and (3) the effect this behavior has on the overall suppression of CBB damage in multipredator scenarios. Our behavioral experiment showed that nearly all interactions between Azteca and CBB are nonconsumptive and that this behavior occurs more frequently in the dry season and with higher densities of scale insects on coffee branches. Our multipredator experiment revealed that borers thrown off coffee plants by Azteca can survive and potentially damage other nearby plants but may be suppressed by ground-foraging ants. Although we found no non-additive effects between Azteca and ground-foraging ants on overall CBB damage, together, both species resulted in the lowest level of plant damage with the subsequent reduction in "spillover" damage caused by thrown CBB, indicating spatial complementarity between predators. These results present a unique case of natural pest control, in which damage suppression is driven almost exclusively by nonconsumptive natural enemy aggression, as opposed to consumption or prey behavioral changes. Furthermore, our results demonstrate the variability that may occur in nonconsumptive pest control interactions when natural enemy aggressive behavior is impacted by alternative resources, and also show how these nonconsumptive effects can

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“…Laboratory experiments involving W. auropunctata and native ant species, showed that W. auropunctata had the poorest foraging abilities in terms of resources discovery(Vonshak et al 2012). In previous work, we compared competitive trade-offs and found that W. auropunctata was less efficient in discovering and recruiting worker to baits in their introduced habitat of Puerto Rico relative to their native habitat in Mexico, suggesting that competitive trade-offs are not indicative of invasive success(Yitbarek, Vandermeer & Perfecto 2017).The organization of exotic species within local species assemblages in their native ranges allows us to understand why some exotic species thrive in their introduced ranges(Calcaterra et al 2016). Here we sought to understand how W. auropunctata ranks relatively to locally dominant native ant species.…”

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confidence: 88%

Competitive release from native range does not predict invasive success of a globally dominant exotic ant species

Yitbarek

Perfecto

Vandermeer

2017

Preprint

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A major goal of invasion biology is to understand under what conditions exotic species thrive in the introduced range. High competitive abilities are thought to be an important characteristic of exotic species. Most invasion studies focus on the competitive ability of exotic species in the introduced range and attribute their ecological success to competitive release, but fewer studies have compared the relative competitive differences within the native range. These comparative studies are important in order to determine if competitive abilities of exotic species are strong predictors of invasion success. The little fire ant Wasmmnia auropunctata is a highly invasive species that has spread from its original range (Central and South America) to becoming a globally distributed exotic species in recent decades. It is generally accepted that island ecosystems offer weak biotic resistance to exotic species as compared to their native range. Here, we examined this empirically by comparing the relative competitive difference of W. auropunctata and locally dominant ants, between its native range of Mexico and introduced range of Puerto Rico. Resource competition was assessed between W. auropunctata and native ants under field conditions and in the laboratory. Furthermore, we compared resource competition at different temporal intervals ranging from short-term (< 2 hours) to long-term (14-days) dynamics. Our results are in contrast to common invasion predictions on island communities because we show that native species were resistant to W. auropunctata in its introduced range of Puerto Rico. We observed that the ground-foraging ant Solenopsis invicta competitive displaced W. auropunctata in Puerto Rico during short-term experiments. Meanwhile, the native arboreal ant Linepithema iniquum withstood competitive pressure from W. auropunctata. In the native range of Mexico, W. auropunctata was superior against Solenopsis Picea and Pheidole protensa species, but was outcompeted by dominant ants Solenopsis geminata and Pheidole synanthropica. This study challenges the relative importance of competitive ability in predicting invasion success. This is one of the few detailed comparative studies that examines exotic species performance between native and introduced habitats.

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From insinuator to dominator: Foraging switching by an exotic ant

Cited by 9 publications

References 44 publications

Effect of agricultural land-use change on ant dominance hierarchy and food preferences in a temperate oak forest

Effect of agricultural land-use change on ant dominance hierarchy and food preferences in a temperate oak forest

An aggressive nonconsumptive effect mediates pest control and multipredator interactions in a coffee agroecosystem

Competitive release from native range does not predict invasive success of a globally dominant exotic ant species

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