Apples for Health- Researcher tracks invading Argentine ants

Researcher tracks invading Argentine ants

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Jan. 2 (UPI) -- A researcher has been tracking tiny immigrants in California, discovering how the Argentine ant is successfully driving out larger native ants.

Andrew Suarez of the University of Illinois found that the Argentine ants change eating habits when they become established in a new area, the Champaign (Ill.) News-Gazette reported. They start out as carnivores, whose victims may include native ants.

The Argentine ants then switch to harvesting the excretions of plant-eating insects like aphids. This may also hurt the native ants, denying them a source of food.
Curiously, the ant in its native habitat remains a carnivore.
In Suarez's study area, the number of native species plummeted in eight years from 23 to two.

The Argentine ants are also prolific.
"Their success comes from sheer numbers," Suarez said.

Argentine ants were first reported in New Orleans in 1891. They have spread through the south.

While they do not flourish in deserts, the ants have even established themselves on golf courses and similar well-watered areas in Arizona.
Suarez's research was published in December in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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