Food competition mechanism between Solenopsis invicta Buren and Tapinoma melanocephalum Fabricius

Sociobiology

Biqiu Wu²  Lei Wang¹  Ling Zeng¹  Guangwen Liang¹  Yongyue Lu¹ 

[1] South China Agricultural University;Guangxi Province Academy of Agricultural Science

关键词: Solenopsis invicta;    Tapinoma melanocephalum;    interspecific coexistence;    interspecific competition;   

DOI  :  

来源: Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Brazil

【 摘 要 】

This study compared the amount of food resource depletion and interference competition at the individual and colony levels betweenSolenopsis invictaandTapinoma melanocephalumlaboratory colonies. The consumption of sausage, honey water, and mealworm byS. invictacolonies of equal worker number was higher than that byT. melanocephalumcolonies. The consumption of sausage and honey water byS. invictacolonies of equal worker number was significantly higher than that byT. melanocephalumcolonies. However, the amounts of sausage, honey water, and mealworm depleted byS. invictacolonies of equal worker biomass were lower than those depleted byT. melanocephalumcolonies. The consumption of sausage and mealworm byS. invictacolonies of equal worker biomass were also significantly lower than that byT. melanocephalumcolonies. Individual-level interference competition betweenS. invictaandT. melanocephalumcolonies in limited space was intense. Competition intensity and the death rate reached their maximum when the worker numbers of both colonies were equal. In any proportion, the death rate ofT. melanocephalumreached over 80%, higher than that ofS. invicta . S. invictacolonies of equal worker biomass and equal worker number recruited more workers for colony-level interference competition and used more resources. However, the death rates amongS. invictacolonies were higher than those amongT. melanocephalumcolonies. The active resource plundering ofS. invictareflected their intense competitiveness and limited the range of activity ofT. melanocephalum . 

【 授权许可】

Unknown