Devegili, Andres M. and Forero-Chavez, Nataly and Mai, Dylan and Czaczkes, Tomer J. and Farji-Brener, Alejandro G. and Pinter-Wollman, Noa (2025) Is cooperation relevant to ant invasiveness? Insights from cooperative food transport. BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS, 27 (4): 114. ISSN 1387-3547, 1573-1464
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Cooperative behavior can enhance fitness and ecological success. However, its role in facilitating biological invasions remains underexplored. To assess the occurrence and importance of intraspecific cooperation in invasive species, we examine cooperative transport-working together to move large objects-across ant species. Specifically, we evaluate its prevalence in the world's top invasive ants and compare its occurrence between invasive and non-invasive species using a previously published dataset of ants from East Asia. Additionally, we conduct a field experiment comparing cooperative transport in the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) and a non-invasive, ecologically similar species (Dorymyrmex tener). Our literature review, complemented by experiments with the invasive Wasmannia auropunctata, confirms that cooperative transport is present in all five of the world's most invasive ant species. In the analyzed dataset, all invasive species exhibited cooperative transport, whereas only 60% of the non-invasive species did. In the field experiments, L. humile cooperatively transported more baits and showed greater accuracy toward its nests than D. tener. This cooperative ability may contribute to the invasion success of L. humile by enhancing resource acquisition and competitive dominance. Our findings suggest that cooperative transport is more prevalent among ants than previously reported and may be particularly common in invasive species. However, further research with a broader representation of global ant diversity and a larger sample size is needed to validate this pattern. Intraspecific cooperation could play a key role in invasion success, highlighting the need to incorporate cooperative behavioral traits into studies of species invasions and management strategies.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | COLONY STRUCTURE; ARGENTINE ANT; LINEPITHEMA-HUMILE; BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS; HYMENOPTERA; SUCCESS; RETRIEVAL; BEHAVIOR; PREY; ORGANIZATION; Collective behavior; Cooperative transport; Dorymyrmex tener; Intraspecific cooperation; Invasive species; Linepithema humile |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 22 Apr 2026 05:00 |
| Last Modified: | 22 Apr 2026 05:00 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/67201 |
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