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    Impacts of an incursion of African Big-headed ants, Pheidole megacephala (Fabricius), in urban bushland in Perth, Western Australia

    218417_218417.pdf (744.9Kb)
    Access Status
    Open access
    Authors
    Callan, Shea
    Majer, Jonathan
    Date
    2009
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Citation
    Callan, S. and Majer, J. 2009. Impacts of an incursion of African Big-headed ants, Pheidole megacephala (Fabricius), in urban bushland in Perth, Western Australia. Pacific Conservation Biology. 15 (2): pp. 102-115.
    Source Title
    Pacific Conservation Biology
    Additional URLs
    http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=728667641361663;res=IELHSS
    ISSN
    10382097
    School
    Department of Environmental Biology
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/17555
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    An incursion of the African Big-headed Ant, Pheidole megacephala, has recently been recorded in bushland in Perth, Western Australia. This unexpected discovery prompted an investigation into the effects of the incursion on the native ant assemblages. Extensive pitfall trapping in invaded and non-invaded areas revealed that the incursion had a significant negative impact on ant species richness, diversity and evenness. Approximately 53% of native ant species present in non-invaded bushland were not sampled in areas occupied by P. megacephala, while the remaining species suffered considerable declines in frequency of occurrence. Many of these species perform important ecosystem functions, and their loss was thought to have had serious consequences on the ecosystem. Changes to the prevalence of the various ant Functional Groups indicated major disruptions to the composition of the assemblage as the abundance of P. megacephala increased. Ants that avoided direct competition with P. megacephala, by occupying temperature dependant temporal niches, were more persistent in its presence. Estimates of the ant biomass sampled indicated that the invasive population was larger than that of all other ant species combined by several orders of magnitude. A feeding trial revealed intensified exploitation of food resources in invaded areas, which could have flow-on effects on other invertebrates and plants. Changes to predation, decomposition, and soil amelioration regimes, as well as possible disruptions to ant-plant interactions and invertebrate symbioses resulting from the disappearance of native ant species, were thought to have further eroded the conservation values of the ecosystem.

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    • Impacts of an incursion of African Big-headed Ants, Pheidole megacephala (Fabricius), in urban bushland in Perth, Western Australia
      Callan, Shea; Majer, Jonathan (2009)
      An incursion of the African Big-headed Ant, Pheidole megacephala, has recently been recorded in bushland in Perth, Western Australia. This unexpected discovery prompted an investigation into the effects of the incursion ...
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