Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T00:00:41.442Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Niche opportunity and ant invasion: the case of Wasmannia auropunctata in a New Caledonian rain forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2005

Julien Le Breton
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Zoologie Appliquée, Centre IRD de Nouméa, B.P. A5, 98948 Nouméa Cedex, Nouvelle-Calédonie Laboratoire d'Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR-CNRS 5174, Université Toulouse III, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
Hervé Jourdan
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Zoologie Appliquée, Centre IRD de Nouméa, B.P. A5, 98948 Nouméa Cedex, Nouvelle-Calédonie Laboratoire d'Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR-CNRS 5174, Université Toulouse III, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
Jean Chazeau
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Zoologie Appliquée, Centre IRD de Nouméa, B.P. A5, 98948 Nouméa Cedex, Nouvelle-Calédonie
Jérôme Orivel
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR-CNRS 5174, Université Toulouse III, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 4, France
Alain Dejean
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR-CNRS 5174, Université Toulouse III, 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 4, France

Abstract

Due to the unbalanced distribution of their fauna and flora, which leads to the creation of a niche opportunities, it is generally accepted that island communities offer weak biotic resistance to biological invasion. In order to empirically test this statement, we compared resource use by ants in the understorey of an undisturbed New Caledonian rain forest recently invaded by the little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata. We tested the exploitation of: (1) food sources by placing baits on all trees with trunks greater than 5 cm in diameter; and (2) nesting sites on two tree species likely to shelter ant colonies. In non-invaded areas, the native ants occupied only 44.6% of the baits after 2 h of exposure, while in invaded areas all the baits were occupied by numerous W. auropunctata workers. Similarly, in non-invaded areas only 48.9% of Meryta coriacea (Araliaceae) trees and 64.5% of Basselinia pancheri (Arecaceae) sheltered ants, while in invaded areas W. auropunctata nested in 92.6–98.3% of these trees. Also, workers attended native Margarodidae (Hemiptera) for which they promoted the development of populations significantly larger than those attended by native ants. Thus native ants appear unable to efficiently exploit and defend several of the available food sources and nesting sites, providing a niche opportunity for an invader like W. auropunctata.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)