Effect of an Invasive and Native Ant on a Field Population of the Black Citrus Aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Abstract

Invasive ants often enter into facultative mutualisms that frequently lead to outbreaks of the hemipteran partner. Native ants may also enter into similar mutualisms but often these do not lead to outbreaks. However, field studies comparing the impact of an invasive and native ant on a honeydew-producing hemipteran are lacking. We monitored numerical changes of the black citrus aphid, Toxoptera aurantii, tended by adjacent colonies of the invasive Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, and the endemic odorous house ant, Tapinoma sessile, during 2005, 2006, and 2007. Ant-tended aphid numbers were higher than those of untended aphids, with L. humile-tended and T. sessile-tended T. aurantii populations being comparable in 2005 and 2007. However, in 2006, a severe storm, with heavy rainfall, reduced T. sessile and aphid populations in areas occupied by T. sessile, whereas L. humile and aphids tended by L. humile were not reduced. This suggested that T. sessile foraging activity and hemipteran-tending was negatively impacted by severe weather. A laboratory experiment simulating rainfall striking the surface of a leaf showed that T. sessile foraging activity declined sharply under severe simulated rainfall conditions, whereas foraging activity of L. humile did not. Maintaining populations of honeydew-producing Hemiptera across broad climatic conditions may be one mechanism by which L. humile gains a competitive advantage over native ants occupying overlapping niches.

A soil‐nesting invasive ant disrupts carbon dynamics in saplings of a foundational ant–plant

“…Ceroplastes scale abundance in our screenhouse (c. 24 ± 3 scales per plant) was much lower than phloem-feeder infestations that reduce plant growth or fitness in other systems (up to 200 aphids per plant, Powell et al, 2009;150-250 aphids per plant, Brightwell & Silverman, 2010; up to 1,000 scales per plant, Kulikowski II, 2020).…”

Interaction BetweenLinepithema micans(Hymenoptera: Formicidae) andEurhizococcus brasiliensis(Hemiptera: Margarodidae) in Vineyards

“…Schwartzberg et al (2010) showed that the biomass of the aphid Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae) increased when the aphids were assisted by ants of the species Lasius neoniger Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The increases in populations of Toxoptera aurantii (Boyer de Fonscolombe) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) (Powell et al 2009), Aphis gossypii Glover, and Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera:Aphididae) (Powell and Silverman 2010) were greater when these aphids were tended by L. humile and Tapinoma sessile (Say) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), compared with nontended populations.…”

Chemical identification of an active component and putative neural mechanism for repellent effect of a native ant’s odor on invasive species

“…The vast spread and high abundance of invasive species seriously threatens native ecosystems as well as affecting biodiversity conservation worldwide ( Human and Gordon, 1996 ; Tsutsui et al, 2000 ; Suarez and Case, 2002 ; Powell et al, 2009 ; Gao and Reitz, 2017 ; Pyšek et al, 2017 ). For example, the Argentine ant ( Linepithema humile ), which is on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) list of the 100 world’s worst invasive species, is one of the most widely-distributed invasive pests in six continents and the Pacific islands, including New Zealand, Hawaii, and Japan ( Lowe et al, 2000 ; Giraud et al, 2002 ; Suhr et al, 2010 ; Van Wilgenburg et al, 2010 ; Ward et al, 2010 ; Mothapo and Wossler, 2011 ; Sato et al, 2017 ).…”