New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
The ant community response to the arrival of Monomorium
sydneyense Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) at Sulphur Point,
Tauranga, New Zealand
L. D. Stringer*
P. J. Lester
School of Biological Sciences
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600
Wellington 6012, New Zealand
*Present address: The Horticulture and Food Research
Institute of New Zealand, PO Box 51, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand.
lstringer@hortresearch.co.nz
Abstract Impacts of highly invasive ants
in new ecosystems
are well documented, but many more ant species are establishing in new
ranges for which there is little or no information. We studied the
effects of the recently discovered Australian ant, Monomorium
sydneyense Forel, on the ant community of Sulphur Point in
Tauranga, New Zealand. At the community scale, the species composition
in invaded areas was significantly different from that in areas free of
M. sydneyense. However, no single ant species was significantly
more or less abundant in the presence of M. sydneyense. Some
resident ant species categorised in the same functional group as the
invader appeared to be scarcer when sympatric with M. sydneyense,
but the local abundances of these species were always spatially
variable, so the effects were not statistically significant.
Patchy distribution of M. sydneyense, and other aspects of its
behaviour, such as poor foraging abilities and a lack of unicoloniality
(where there is little or no aggression between conspecific ants from
spatially separate nests), appear to allow resident ant species to
coexist with M. sydneyense at Sulphur Point.
Keywords exotic ant community; invasion;
Monomorium
sydneyense; species composition
A07025; Online publication date 22 February 2008; Received 3 July
2007; accepted 17 September 2007
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2008, Vol. 35: 53–61
0301–4223/08/3501–0053 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2008
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