This Is Auburn

Show simple item record

Aphids alter the community-wide impact of fire ants


Metadata FieldValueLanguage
dc.creatorKaplan, Ian
dc.creatorEubanks, Micky D.
dc.date.accessioned2019-12-19T21:37:01Z
dc.date.available2019-12-19T21:37:01Z
dc.date.created2005
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.1890/04-0016en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/04-0016en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11200/49667
dc.description.abstractPositive species interactions have the potential to strongly influence the structure and dynamics of ecological communities, yet surprisingly few studies have documented their general importance. We tested the hypothesis that the mutualistic association between fire ants and aphids enhances the impact of fire ants on the herbivorous and predaceous arthropod community of cotton. We found that the presence of aphids attracted foraging fire ants onto cotton plants. This shift from ground to foliar foraging resulted in more frequent interactions between fire ants and arthropods associated with cotton. The survival of herbivores (caterpillars) and predators (ladybird beetles and lacewings) was lower in the presence of fire ants and aphids compared with fire ants alone in greenhouse experiments. Similarly, fire ants and aphids deterred plant bugs from spending time on cotton foliage. Using large-scale field manipulations of fire ants along with naturally occurring aphid populations, we found that the ant-aphid mutualism accounted for much of the variation underlying ant impact on cotton herbivores and predators. For example, in 2001, similar to 27% of herbivore taxa and 54% of predator taxa were adversely affected by the mutualism. The overall community response, however, was highly conditional with strong temporal variation in the effects of the ant-aphid association. Our results indicate that the relationship between fire ants and aphids serves as a key interaction that alters the structure of cotton arthropod communities. This conclusion has far-reaching significance for understanding food web dynamics in natural systems and the efficacy of biological control in ant-infested areas.en_US
dc.formatPDFen_US
dc.relation.ispartofEcologyen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries1939-9170en_US
dc.rights© 2005. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en_US
dc.subjectagroecologyen_US
dc.subjectant-homopteran mutualismen_US
dc.subjectarthropod community dynamicsen_US
dc.subjectAphis gossypiien_US
dc.subjectbiological controlen_US
dc.subjectcotton aphiden_US
dc.subjectindirect eftectsen_US
dc.subjectinvasive anten_US
dc.subjectkeystone mutualismen_US
dc.subjectpredator-prey interactionen_US
dc.subjectred imported fire anten_US
dc.subjectSolenopsis invictaen_US
dc.titleAphids alter the community-wide impact of fire antsen_US
dc.typeCollectionen_US
dc.type.genreJournal Article, Academic Journalen_US
dc.citation.volume86en_US
dc.citation.issue6en_US
dc.citation.spage1640en_US
dc.citation.epage1649en_US
dc.description.statusPublisheden_US
dc.description.peerreviewYesen_US

Files in this item

Show simple item record