Abiotic factors control invasion by Argentine ants at the community scale

The Journal of Animal Ecology
Sean B Menke, David A Holway

Abstract

1. A prominent and unresolved question in ecology concerns why communities differ in their susceptibility to invasion. While studies often emphasize biotic resistance, it is less widely appreciated how the physical environment affects community vulnerability to invasion. 2. In this study we performed field experiments to test how abiotic variation directly and indirectly influences the extent to which Linepithema humile Mayr (Argentine ants) invade seasonally dry environments in southern California. 3. In controlled and replicated experiments involving drip irrigation, we demonstrate (i) that elevated levels of soil moisture increased both the abundance of Argentine ants and their ability to invade native ant communities and (ii) that cessation of irrigation caused declines in the abundance of Argentine ants and led to their withdrawal from previously occupied areas. 4. Because drip irrigation stimulated plant growth, in an additional experiment we manipulated both soil moisture and plant cover to assess the direct vs. indirect effects of added water on the abundance of L. humile. 5. Local abundance of Argentine ants increased in irrigated plots but was 38% higher in irrigated plots with plants compared to irrigated plots where...Continue Reading

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Citations

May 20, 2009·Oecologia·Alexei D Rowles, Jules Silverman
Dec 21, 2007·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Chadwick V TillbergAndrew V Suarez
Dec 10, 2008·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Joshua R King, Walter R Tschinkel
Dec 22, 2010·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Núria Roura-PascualSue P Worner
Mar 27, 2010·Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·Milan J MitrovichRobert N Fisher
Sep 20, 2007·Annual Review of Entomology·Jules Silverman, Robert John Brightwell
Aug 3, 2010·Journal of Insect Science·Silvia AbrilCrisanto Gómez
Sep 5, 2008·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Paul D Krushelnycky, Rosemary G Gillespie
Nov 6, 2014·Journal of Insect Science·Benjamin D Hoffmann, Henry Hagedorn
Jan 19, 2012·Environmental Entomology·Robert J Brightwell, Jules Silverman
Apr 27, 2012·Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·Katherine Fitzgerald, Deborah M Gordon
Apr 12, 2014·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Xavier ArnanJavier Retana
Feb 21, 2008·Environmental Entomology·Chee Seng ChongLinda J Thomson
Jan 24, 2018·Journal of Economic Entomology·Brian N HoggKent M Daane
Nov 6, 2018·Global Change Biology·Andrew C Battles, Jason J Kolbe
Mar 27, 2020·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Maria M MartignoniJimmy Garnier
Aug 27, 2015·Environmental Entomology·M CoolingP J Lester

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