Interactions between Homoptera and the European Red Ant, Myrmica rubra (L.) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), on Mount Desert Island, Maine

McPhee, Katherine

FIELD WORK: Summers of 2006 and 2007. Follwing is from abstract: 'Invasive ants have detrimentally altered native habitats, with effects felt on plants and other arthropod taxa. The European fire ant, Myrmica rubra (Linnaeus), is an invasive ant in over 42 communities in Maine. I used insect survey techniques (sweepnet, visual, terminal branch sampling, and comparative plant surveys) and field experiments to test the effects of M. rubra on homopteran abundance in the summers of 2006 and 2007 on Mount Desert Island, ME. Two out of three sampling techniques detected significantly higher abundances of the aphids, Aphis spiraephila Patch and Prociphilus tessellatus Fitch, as well as species of Diaspididae, Coccidae, and Cicadellidae. An ant exclusion field experiment on the native plant meadowsweet, Spiraea alba Du Roi, found higher abundances of A. spiraephila with M. rubra tending compared with native ant tending. A predator exclusion field experiment was conducted on S. alba using adult ladybeetles, Hippodamia convergens Guerin-Meneville, larval lacewings, Chyrsoperla carnea Stephens, and no predators. In the presence of M rubra, aphid populations were negatively impacted but at a much reduced rate in C. carnea treatments and only marginally with H. convergens. Fifty-two behavioral assays were carried out to test the responses of H, convergens adults and M. rubra tending hompoterans. H. convergens were readily attacked and responded with escape behaviors. Myrmica rubra may be increasing particular species of Homoptera instead of all species of Homoptera in infested sites.' ------------------ Thesis contains the following chapters: Ant-Homopteran relationships: relevance to an ant invasion in Maine Interactions between Homopterans and the invasive European red ant, Myrmica rubra (L.) ---------------- Sweepnet sampling captured animals from five orders and 21 families of Insecta and two orders of arachnida (only some of these are listed). /STUDY LOCATIONS:/ /MOUNT DESERT ISLAND/Sand Beach House/Bear Brook Road/Breakneck Road/Eagle Lake/Crooked Road/Duck Brook Road/Four Corners Road/Fresh Meadow/Miller Gardens/Sieur de Monts/Hulls Cove Visitor Center/