The role of neighborhood competition in the spacing and diversity of ant communities

Article Abstract:

A simulation model of competition among ant colonies is analyzed to find out the influence of competition over diversity and spacing in ant communities. The effect of established colonies on the recruitment of new colonies, and the influence of this interaction to the spatial distribution of ant colonies is also considered. Spatial distribution of colonies is affected by both intraspecific and interspecific competition and by the death and birth rates in each colony. A new queen fails to establish a nest near a conspecific colony due to competition. This produces regular distances between nests of the same species. On the other hand, randomly spaced nests indicate competition among established colonies.

Influence, Habitat partitioning (Biology), Habitat partitioning (Ecology)

---

Surprising behavior from a familiar model and implications for competition theory

Article Abstract:

Studies using simple models based on the Lotka-Volterra equations show that the species replacement rates and invasion success of an exotic species are inversely related to the species richness of a community. Such studies confirm the notion that communities that are species-rich are more robust against invasion by exotics. However, it was shown that when a community characterized by equilibrium between two native species and one exotic species suffers another invasion by a new exotic species, the resident species become extinct, leaving only the earlier exotic species at its carrying capacity.

Models, Animal populations, Animal introduction

---

Regulation of "momentary" diversity by dominant species in exceptionally rich ant communities of the Australian seasonal tropics

Article Abstract:

A humped relationship exists between momentary diversity and the momentary abundance of dominant species of ants. Observations on Iridomyrmex species and Oecophylla smaragdina which were the dominant species on the site show that their presence modulates the number of ant species within a food source under favorable conditions. Interference competition is generally expressed by these dominant species that explains the larger percentage of their number on baits and on traps compared to nondominant species of ants.

Analysis, Physiological aspects, Social hierarchy in animals, Dominance (Animal behavior)

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Rates of tectonic uplift in the Corinth and Megara Basins, Central Greece. On the relationship between surface uplift and gravitational extension
• Abstracts: Possible role of amphibole in the origin of andesite: some experimental and natural evidence. The influence of amphibole fractionation on the evolution of calc-alkaline andesite and dacite tephra from the central Aleutians, Alaska
• Abstracts: Testing the marine and continental fossil records: comment and reply. Middle Cretaceous reef collapse linked to ocean heat transport: comment and reply
• Abstracts: The arc of the western Alps in the light of geophysical data on deep crustal structure. Tectonic entrapment and its role in the evolution of continental lithosphere: An example from the Precambrian of western Canada
• Abstracts: Sex ratio in the social hymenoptera: a population-genetics study of long-term evolution. Inference of pair bonds from capture data based on low variation of the sex ratio among catches

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.