TY - JOUR

T1 - The worldwide expansion of the Argentine ant

AU - Vogel, Valerie

AU - Pedersen, Jes Søe

AU - Giraud, Tatiana

AU - Krieger, Michael J. B.

AU - Keller, Laurent

PY - 2010/1

Y1 - 2010/1

N2 - Aim The aim of this study was to determine the number of successfulestablishments of the invasive Argentine ant outside native range and to seewhether introduced supercolonies have resulted from single or multipleintroductions. We also compared the genetic diversity of native versusintroduced supercolonies to assess the size of the propagules (i.e. the numberof founding individuals) at the origin of the introduced supercolonies.Location Global.Methods We used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers and microsatellite locito study 39 supercolonies of the Argentine ant Linepithema humile covering boththe native (n = 25) and introduced range (n = 14).Results Data from three mitochondrial genes and 13 nuclear microsatellitessuggest that the introduced supercolonies studied originated from at least sevenfounding events out of the native area in Argentina (primary introductions). Thedistribution of mtDNA haplotypes also suggests that supercolonies in theintroduced range each derive from a single source supercolony and that one ofthese source supercolonies has been particularly successful, being the basis ofmany introduced populations spread across the world. Comparison of the geneticdiversity of supercolonies based on the five most diverse loci also revealed thatnative and introduced supercolonies have greatly overlapping ranges of diversity,although the genetic diversity is on average less in introduced than in nativesupercolonies.Main conclusions Both primary introductions (from the native range) andsecondary introductions (from sites with established invasive supercolonies) wereimportant in the global expansion of the Argentine ant. In combination with thesimilar social organization of colonies in the native and introduced range, thisindicates that invasiveness did not evolve recently as a unique and historicallycontingent event (e.g. reduction of genetic diversity) in this species. Rather, nativeL. humile supercolonies have characteristics that make them pre-adapted toinvade new – and in particular disturbed – habitats when given the opportunity.These results have important implications with regard to possible strategies to beused to control invasive ants.

AB - Aim The aim of this study was to determine the number of successfulestablishments of the invasive Argentine ant outside native range and to seewhether introduced supercolonies have resulted from single or multipleintroductions. We also compared the genetic diversity of native versusintroduced supercolonies to assess the size of the propagules (i.e. the numberof founding individuals) at the origin of the introduced supercolonies.Location Global.Methods We used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers and microsatellite locito study 39 supercolonies of the Argentine ant Linepithema humile covering boththe native (n = 25) and introduced range (n = 14).Results Data from three mitochondrial genes and 13 nuclear microsatellitessuggest that the introduced supercolonies studied originated from at least sevenfounding events out of the native area in Argentina (primary introductions). Thedistribution of mtDNA haplotypes also suggests that supercolonies in theintroduced range each derive from a single source supercolony and that one ofthese source supercolonies has been particularly successful, being the basis ofmany introduced populations spread across the world. Comparison of the geneticdiversity of supercolonies based on the five most diverse loci also revealed thatnative and introduced supercolonies have greatly overlapping ranges of diversity,although the genetic diversity is on average less in introduced than in nativesupercolonies.Main conclusions Both primary introductions (from the native range) andsecondary introductions (from sites with established invasive supercolonies) wereimportant in the global expansion of the Argentine ant. In combination with thesimilar social organization of colonies in the native and introduced range, thisindicates that invasiveness did not evolve recently as a unique and historicallycontingent event (e.g. reduction of genetic diversity) in this species. Rather, nativeL. humile supercolonies have characteristics that make them pre-adapted toinvade new – and in particular disturbed – habitats when given the opportunity.These results have important implications with regard to possible strategies to beused to control invasive ants.

U2 - 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2009.00630.x

DO - 10.1111/j.1472-4642.2009.00630.x

M3 - Journal article

VL - 16

SP - 170

EP - 186

JO - Diversity and Distributions

JF - Diversity and Distributions

SN - 1366-9516

IS - 1

ER -