New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
Foraging characteristics and intraspecific
behaviour of the
exotic species Monomorium sydneyense (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
in New Zealand,
with implications for its
management
L. D. Stringer
The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New
Zealand
PO Box 51
Lincoln
7640, New Zealand
P. J. Lester*
School
of Biological
Sciences
Victoria
University
of Wellington
PO Box 600
Wellington
6140, New Zealand
*Author
for correspondence: phil.lester@vuw.ac.nz
Abstract We attempt to evaluate
the
biosecurity risk
posed by the newly established exotic ant species Monomorium
sydneyense Forel,
in New Zealand.
Aggression was observed between workers from different M.
sydneyense nests,
indicating that unicoloniality is unlikely. Nests had multiple queens,
and nest
foundation is apparently via winged queens. The foraging behaviour
corresponded
to multicoloniality, with workers foraging in close proximity to the
nest. In
trials during December (2003) and March (2004), workers had a >50%
probability of finding food at a distance of 0.8–1 m from their nest, but on
cooler study dates (October 2004) our logistic regression model
indicated that
they would not reach this threshold irrespective of how close the food
was to
the nest. Although M. sydneyense forage during both night and
day, they
appeared to be relatively inefficient at locating food. We conclude
that under
the conditions assessed here, the environmental damage likely to be
caused by M.
sydneyense is modest compared with other invasive ant species.
Keywords invasive species;
ants; predicting
effects;
intraspecific aggression; foraging efficiency; polygyny
New Zealand
Journal of Zoology, 2007, Vol. 34: 25–34
0301–4223/07/3401–0025 © The Royal Society
of New Zealand
2007
PDF file of entire paper: Print-quality
(523K) | screen-quality (408K)
This year's abstracts |
Journal home page |
All abstracts |
Publishing home page
