研究人员发现亚洲针蚂蚁移位其他侵略性入侵者

来自北卡罗来纳州立大学的研究人员发现，美国最具侵略性的蚂蚁物种 - 阿根廷蚂蚁似乎在亚洲针蚂蚁中遇到了它的比赛。具体而言，研究人员已经发现，亚洲针蚂蚁在城市环境中成功地迁移阿根廷蚂蚁，表明亚洲针蚂蚁 - 具有毒性的刺痛 - 可能是看到人口繁荣的下一个侵入性物种。

在侵入性物种的世界中，阿根廷蚂蚁（LinePithema Humile.) is a success story. Its aggressive, territorial behavior and ability to create huge “supercolonies” – consisting of thousands of queens and millions of workers – have enabled the Argentine ant to spread across the United States, displacing native species and changing ecosystems to suit its needs. No other ant species had been seen successfully pushing back – until now.

2008年，在城市环境中观看了一名阿根廷蚂蚁，前NC州立博士。学生埃莉诺博士米饭米注意到亚洲针蚂蚁（Pachycondyla chinensis）在该地区生活和工作。这令人惊讶的是，阿根廷蚂蚁通常不会忍受其领土中的任何其他蚂蚁物种，因此香肠米决定进一步调查。

在接下来的四年,Spicer大米发现rgentine ants appeared to ignore Asian needle ants, and the Asian needle ants took advantage of the situation to displace a significant portion of the Argentine ant population. In 2008, Argentine ants had populations in 99 percent of the sites within the study area, while only 9 percent of the sites were home to Asian needle ant populations. By 2011, Argentine ants were found in only 67 percent of the sites – while the Asian needle ants had expanded to occupy 32 percent of the sites. The two ant species shared 15 percent of the sites in common.

“这是我们第一次看到另一块蚂蚁物种从阿根廷蚂蚁那里占领，”Spicer Rice说，关于研究的论文的牵头作者。

The researchers think that the Asian needle ant’s ability to tolerate cooler temperatures may play a significant role in its ability to push out Argentine ants. During cold weather, both ant species become fairly dormant and cease reproducing, limiting their activity and driving their populations down. However, the Asian needle ants become active again much earlier – beginning to reproduce and build new nests in Argentine ant territory as early as March, while the Argentine ants remain inactive until late April or early May. “The Asian needle ants essentially get a head start,” Spicer Rice says.

“如果亚洲针蚂蚁在取代占主导地位的情况下有效 - 它是 - 那么它可能是下一个主要的侵入性蚂蚁物种，”NC国家昆虫学教授Jules Silverman博士说：汉语宣布教授和本文共同作者。

“亚洲针蚂蚁正在同时进入森林和城市环境，”皮带米饭说。“因为它在冷却器温度下活跃，它可以进入一个非常广泛的领土。”亚洲针蚂蚁已经在从阿拉巴马阿拉巴马州到纽约市到俄勒冈的地区发现。

亚洲针蚂蚁的崛起是坏消息。亚洲针蚂蚁有毒牙盾，这可能导致一些人类的过敏反应。亚洲针蚂蚁似乎在森林中推出了原生蚂蚁群体 - 包括在生态系统过程中发挥重要作用的本地物种，例如分散种子。

本文，“Propagule pressure and climate contribute to the displacement ofLinePithema Humile.经过Pachycondyla chinensis，“在线发表于2月8日普罗斯一体。该研究得到了Blanton J. Whitmire禀赋的支持。Spicer Rice和Silverman目前正在处理一份纸质，该文件解决了阿根廷蚂蚁没有攻击亚洲针蚂蚁的原因。

Spicer Rice and Silverman were also co-authors, along with Jonathan Shik, of a 2012 paper on how to get rid of Asian needle ant populations using toxic baits. That paper, “散射和离散氢丁基诱饵放置对亚洲针蚂蚁的影响，“发表于十月问题经济昆虫学杂志。

- 船员 -

编辑注：这项研究摘要跟随。

“Propagule pressure and climate contribute to the displacement ofLinePithema Humile.经过Pachycondyla chinensis“

作者：伊利亚尔香蒜酱米饭和北卡罗莱纳州立大学·斯皮尔曼

发表: online Feb. 8,普罗斯一体

抽象的：识别侵入物种的建立和传播的机制是入侵生物学的根本挑战。由于只有在物种呈现环境威胁之后才经常观察到物种入侵，因此将鉴定分散和随后的扩散的贡献药物的研究仅限于逆行观察。在这里，我们使用季节性调查和实验方法的组合来测试行为和非生物因素在确定两种侵入性蚂蚁种类的局部共存时的相对重要性，所建立的阿根廷蚂蚁（LinePithema Humile.Mayr）和新侵入的亚洲针蚂蚁（Pachycondyla chinensisEmery). We show that the broader climatic envelope ofP. Chinensis.enables it to establish earlier in the year thanL.蜂窝。We also demonstrate that increasedP. Chinensis.期间的繁殖压力L.蜂窝scarcity contributes to successfulP. Chinensis.early season establishment. Furthermore, we show that, althoughL.蜂窝is the numerically superior and behaviorally dominant species at baits,P. Chinensis.is currently displacingL.蜂窝穿过侵略的景观。通过识别促进另一个侵入性蚂蚁的特征，我们可以更好地了解入侵过程中的早期决定因素和限制殖民地扩张和生存的因素。