Leďla Von Aesch and Daniel Cherix. Museum of Zoology, Place de la Riponne 6 - CP, Lausanne, 1014, Switzerland
When various exotic ant species coexist in the same area several behavioural traits might regulate competition among them, leading to the dominance of one species or a set of species. Importance of direct aggressive behaviour as a component of interspecific competition was assessed. We performed group’s encounters revealing various levels of aggression on three introduced ant species occurring on Floreana Island in the Galápagos Archipelago. The two dominant species Solenopsis geminata and Monomorium destructor exhibit very different behaviours when confronted in small groups on food sources to the submissive Tetramorium simillimum: S. geminata workers maintain foraging activity and display little aggression toward T. simillimum when M. destructor’s behaviour is highly agonistic. It appears that aggressive behavioural strategy of M. destructor is ineffective in the case of an island that already shelters several introduced ant species as Floreana.
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