Download or read book Implications of Stridulation Behavior in the Red and Black Imported Fire Ants Solenopsis Invicta Buren and Solenopsis Richteri Forel and Their Hybrid written by Jake Marquess and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stridulation elicits a variety of behavioral responses in the Formicidae: distress, alarm and recruitment of nestmates. The intent of my research is to broaden the understanding of stridulation by investigating the morphology, multiple behaviors in which stridulation has been observed, and the behavioral response to the playback of these stridulatory signals in two closely related species, Solenopsis invicta, S. richteri, and their hybrid. A SEM examination of head width and the stridulatory organs of imported fire ant workers found the number of ridges on the "file" (pars striden) to be positively correlated with body size. The increase in ridge number in relation to body size suggests that the number of pulses in each pulse train of the stridulation signal should increase as body size increases. Stridulation was not correlated with excavation behavior, but grinding, an incidental sound resulting from soil excavation, is a reliable indicator of excavation behavior. Absence of stridulation upon initial discovery of the food source and low amount of stridulation observed with ten or less ants present at the food source indicates that stridulation does not serve as an initial short range recruitment signal to nearby nestmates. Furthermore, over 90% of the total stridulation observed was recorded with 30 or more ants present at the food source. Finally, the time between calls decreased and the number of stridulations increased as more ants arrived at the food source. Stridulation in dyadic encounters between ants occurs almost exclusively during non-nestmate conspecitic interactions. Restrained ants or "defenders" accounted for 92.9% of the total stridulation observed compared to just 3.4% for "attackers." Restraint between the head and thorax or "neck" evoked the highest level of stridulation in majors. Stridulation during non-nestmate interactions is size specific, as trials involving majors had nearly twice as much stridulation (88.3%), than trials with mediums (48.3%) and minors (41.7%). Major workers of both Solenopsis invicta and S. richteri appear to respond to stridulation signals by increasing their rate of movement. However, it is unclear if they are able to perceive the direction and relative amplitude of the signal.

Download or read book Behavioral Responses of Black Imported Fire Ants Solenopsis Richteri Forel to Substrate Vibrations and Their Effect on the Efficiency of a Biocontrol Agent the Decapitating Fly Pseudacteon Curvatus Borgmeier written by Esther M. Mwangi and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Behavioral and Control Studies of the Red Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Invicta Buren Hymenoptera Formicidae in South Carolina written by Steven Rex Lovelace and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 101 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Study of Field Populations and Behavior of the Red Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Invicta Buren in South Carolina written by Paul Mackey Horton and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Impact of the Red Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Invicta Buren on an Ant seed Mutualism written by Jennifer Ann Zettler and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Impacts of Red Imported Fire Ants Solenopsis Invicta Buren on Native Faunal Communities in Two Pine dominated Forests written by Lee A. Womack and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Economic Impact of the Red Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Invicta Buren in Texas written by Charles Kevin Brinkley and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Effects of the Red Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Invicta on Herpetofauna Populations written by Jason Travis Slater and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Mutualism of the Red Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Invicta Buren with Honeydew producing Homoptera written by Thomas Allen Scarborough and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Variation and Adaptation in the Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Saevissima Richteri Forel in the Gulf States written by Edward O. Wilson and published by . This book was released on 1950 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The imported fire ant, Solenopsis saevissima richteri Forel, is the southernmost race of a widespread and highly variable South American ant. It was introduced into the port of Mobile, Alabama, sometime around 1918 and by 1949 had spread to parts of Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana. 2. A great deal of color variation from nest to nest has been noted in the Gulf States population. This includes an extreme blackish phase referable to the original description of richteri, an extreme reddish phase referable to no described form, and intermediates between the two. This color variation is correlated with differences in size of the ants and in appearance and proportion of their nests. 3. The variation has a genetic basis. It is suggested in this study that the variation can be explained most readily on the basis of multiple pleiotropic alleles. 4. The history of the variation has been determined as follows: The darkest forms, or richteri s. str., were the ones originally dominant from the time of the ant's introduction until at least 1929 and probably sometime after 1932. The origin of the new form is not known, although it is believed that it originated either through mutation within the population or through a second introduction. IN 1949 it was by far the dominant form. It had apparently replaced the typical richteri partly by rapid expansion and subsequent genetic dilution and partly through natural selection by direct competition. Its predominance in the main population and in at least two smaller isolated populations has evidently been responsible for a much greater success of the species. In the main population in 1949 the typical richteri was mostly limited in distribution to portions of the periphery of the range, forming with the new form roughly the concentric pattern of Matthew's modified Age-and-Area hypothesis. 5. The new form has been interpreted as functioning, regardless of its origin, as a favorable mutation introduced into the population. Its rise to dominance has constituted an extremely rapid, nearly vertical evolutionary change.

Download or read book Toxicity of Xanthene Dyes to Black Imported Fire Ants Solenopsis Richteri Forel written by Robert Michael David and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Impact of Red Imported Fire Ants Solenopsis Invicta on Northern Bobwhite Colinus Virginianus Populations and Insect Abundance written by P. Evans Myers and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Red Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Invicta Buren written by Wayne Edward Blust and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 35 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abstract.

Download or read book Foraging Habits and Effects of Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Saevissima Richteri Forel on Some Arthropod Populations in Southeastern Louisiana written by Nicky Lynn Wilson and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Report on the Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Saevissima Var Richteri Forel in Alabama written by Edward O. Wilson and published by . This book was released on 1949 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Interactions Between Red Imported Fire Ant Solenopsis Invicta Buren Hymenoptera Formicidae and Potentially Competitive Ant Species Investigated Under Laboratory and Greenhouse Conditions written by Asha Rao and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Causes and Consequences of Intraspecific Variation in Behavior of the Red Imported Fire Ant written by Alison Audrey Bockoven and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Organisms vary at the individual and population level in many ecologically relevant traits. This study documents and quantifies colony-level variation in ecologically important behaviors of a widespread invasive social insect, demonstrates multitrophic ecological effects of this colony-level variation, and explores genetic factors that may affect and predict behavior at the colony-level. I quantified significant, persistent regional and colony-level variation in the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) in behaviors such as extra-nest activity, exploration, and resource discovery speed and recruitment effort. Colony behavior correlated with both colony productivity and colony growth. Using single-lineage colonies, I estimated broad-sense heritability of between 0.45 and 0.5 for the observed colony behaviors. I created experimental microcosms comprised of fire ant colonies, plants, and insect herbivores. Differences in fire ant colony behavior linked to carbohydrate attraction directly impacted herbivore mortality and indirectly impacted plant damage. I quantified colony differences colony differences in the expression of the fire ant foraging gene (sifor) as well as colony-level differences in behavior for fire ant colonies collected from across a large area of Texas. Expression of sifor was more than three-fold higher in fire ant foragers than in fire ant workers in the interior of the nest, and colony-level differences in sifor expression of foragers and interior workers correlated with colony behavior. Higher sifor expression in foragers correlated with higher foraging activity, exploratory activity, and recruitment to nectar in fire ant colonies. Finally, I explored the hypothesis that fire ant foundress groups could maximize inclusive fitness benefits and alter cooperative and competitive behaviors in response to cues indicating higher relatedness of foundresses. I found that group and queen performance was significantly affected by group composition. Groups composed of foundresses that were less likely to be related produced no more workers than queens founding alone, while groups composed of foundresses from the same site produced the most workers of all group types. The conclusions of this study have widespread implications for many social insects and their ecological interactions. By further exploring these effects at the mechanistic, organismal, and ecological level we will improve our understanding of collective behavior, social evolution, and intraspecific variation. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/155761