Post by Tulameen on Mar 22, 2005 20:02:46 GMT -5
Global warming could trigger ant invasions
* 22:00 21 March 2005
* NewScientist.com news service
* Shaoni Bhattacharya
The bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) has one of the largest worker ants in the world - shown on its left antenna is a tiny Carebara reina worker ant. Both live in the forests of Central America
Global warming may lead to an unexpected threat from the insect world - swarming invasions of tiny ants - suggests new research.
The study of 665 ant colonies in environments ranging from tropical rainforests to frozen tundra suggests that in warmer environments the ants' body size shrinks, on average, while the number of individuals in the colony booms.
Global warming might shrink ant workers by as much as a third, says Michael Kaspari at the University of Oklahoma, US, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, who carried out the study: "And since ant species with small workers appear to be particularly successful at invading, ant invasions - already destructive - may become more common in a warming world."
Kaspari found that worker ant and colony size varied almost 100-fold in his survey of ant colonies in 49 ecosystems in the Americas. Average nest populations varied from 63 workers in a cold temperate pine forest, to over 9000 workers in a hot, temperate desert. "The tiniest colonies are not much bigger than the inside of a Cheerio while the largest colonies can fill up a garbage can," he told New Scientist.
www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7170
* 22:00 21 March 2005
* NewScientist.com news service
* Shaoni Bhattacharya
The bullet ant (Paraponera clavata) has one of the largest worker ants in the world - shown on its left antenna is a tiny Carebara reina worker ant. Both live in the forests of Central America
Global warming may lead to an unexpected threat from the insect world - swarming invasions of tiny ants - suggests new research.
The study of 665 ant colonies in environments ranging from tropical rainforests to frozen tundra suggests that in warmer environments the ants' body size shrinks, on average, while the number of individuals in the colony booms.
Global warming might shrink ant workers by as much as a third, says Michael Kaspari at the University of Oklahoma, US, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, who carried out the study: "And since ant species with small workers appear to be particularly successful at invading, ant invasions - already destructive - may become more common in a warming world."
Kaspari found that worker ant and colony size varied almost 100-fold in his survey of ant colonies in 49 ecosystems in the Americas. Average nest populations varied from 63 workers in a cold temperate pine forest, to over 9000 workers in a hot, temperate desert. "The tiniest colonies are not much bigger than the inside of a Cheerio while the largest colonies can fill up a garbage can," he told New Scientist.
www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7170