Relative risk of invasive ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) establishing in New Zealand

Abstract

Human-assisted spread of species poses a major challenge to border security agencies. Ideally, limited resources need to be targeted at species posing the most risk. Climate matching is an important component of assessing risk but often little or no biological information is available to enable detailed modelling. To assess if distribution records alone provide useful establishment predictions we compare the climate in New Zealand and its outlying islands to that found in the current native and introduced ranges of 12 tramp ant species, three of which are already established in New Zealand, using the climate module of BIOSECURE, a risk assessment tool. Eleven species showed a similar general pattern, with mean annual temperature being the climatic variable with the least overlap between the estimated realised niche and the predicted New Zealand niche. The twelfth species, of temperate origin, is less restricted by temperature, but much of New Zealand may have too high a rainfall. The present and future threats posed by tramp ants are discussed in relation to climate limitations.

Diversidade e riqueza de formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) em remanescentes de Mata Atlântica na Bacia Hidrográfica do Alto Tietê, SP

“…Determinadas espécies especialistas nidificam nesses locais, como é o caso de Typhlomyrmex rogenhoferi (Lacau et al 2004, Delabie et al 2007) registrada na serapilheira das áreas de Floresta Ombrófila Densa da Barragem de Biritiba Mirim e do Parque Estadual Nascentes do (Nafus 1993, Harris & Barker 2007, Vanderwoude et al 2000, Hoffmann 2010). Essas espécies exóticas são frequentes nas áreas urbanas das cidades do Alto Tietê (Kamura et al 2007, Munhae et al 2009.…”

Global potential distribution of an invasive species, the yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes) under climate change

“…Currently, most studies on this species are focused on the autoecology or population structure (Gerlach 2004, Abbott 2005, 2006Feldhaar et al 2006;Drescher et al 2007), and understanding its spatial distributional pattern (Wetterer 2005;Harris et al 2005; Commonwealth of Australia 2006; Harris & Barker 2007); however, the trans-continental distribution trend has not been investigated as comprehensively (Wetterer 2005). The present study aims to develop an invasive model for the yellow crazy ant at a global scale in order to assess the potential impacts of climate change on the spatial pattern of this species.…”

“…Ecological niche modeling, in response to the need of predicting exotic species' distribution, has gained popularity in recent times and the application of this technique to ant species is growing (Harris et al 2005;Morrison et al 2005;Xue et al 2005;Harris & Barker 2007;Ulrichs & Hopper 2007;Ward 2007). The known climatic requirements or tolerances of a species, once parameterized and used in modeling, are termed climate envelopes or ecological requirements (Berry et al 2002).…”

Future ant invasions in France

“…One group of invasive species that is of particular concern for conservation are ants (Holway et al 2002;Rabitsch 2011); because of their small size, they are easily transported by accident, in particular on fruits or on ornamental plants. Invasive ants have a tremendous impact on local biodiversity (Lach & Hooper-Bui 2010), ecosystem functioning (Holway et al 2002), economics (Harris & Barker 2007), and even human and domestic animal health (Moreira et al 2005;Scanlan & Vanderwoude 2006). Once established, invasive ants become very difficult to eradicate (Hoffmann et al 2010).…”