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Breeding consequences for a songbird nesting in Argentine ant’ invaded land

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Abstract

The consequences of ant invasions on ecosystems may only become apparent after long periods. In addition, predicting how sensitive native fauna will respond is only possible if the underlying proximate mechanisms of their impact are identified. We studied the attraction of the native and invasive ant community to artificial bird nests. Further, we studied reproduction of a wild native songbird over five consecutive breeding seasons in relation to the presence of an invasive ant species. We analysed biometric, reproductive and individual blood parameters of great tits Parus major breeding in invaded as compared to uninvaded sites by Argentine ants Linepithema humile. Great tits bred preferably in uninvaded territories by the Argentine ant. Moreover, Argentine ants were more abundant at nests in invaded sites, than any native ant species were at uninvaded sites. Further, Argentine ants recruited at the artificial nests more intensively and responded to a larger variety of nest contents than native species. Although breeding success and adult condition did not vary in relation to invasion status, offspring quality was negatively affected by the presence of Argentine ants. Nestlings reared in invaded sites were lighter, with lower wing/tarsus length ratio and had a reduced nutritional condition and altered oxidative stress balance as measured from several blood parameters. The interspersed distribution and small distance between invaded versus uninvaded territories suggest that ant presence affects nestling condition through direct interference at the nest. Our results highlight the importance of evaluating the proximate effects like physiological parameters of the native fauna, when studying invasive ant-native bird interactions.

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks to Benjamin Carbonne, María Riesco Malho, Cristela Sánchez, Francisco Chicano, Sara Castro-Cobo, Sophie Le Hesran, Eduardo Rodríguez-Expósito, Marçal Pla for their help in the field. Jordi Figuerola and Jaime Potti kindly supplied the nestboxes for the study. We are indebted with Olivier Blight and Raphaël Boulay for their scientific input. We are also grateful to ICTS-RBD for allowing us to use their field facilities; and laboratory facilities at EBD (LAST, LEA and LPM). We are in debt with Manolo Vázquez for help provided with artificial nest experiment, Francisco Miranda and Olaya García for their help with blood analyses and David Aragonés for his help with the mapsy. Comments by two anonymous reviewers improved earlier versions of the manuscript

Funding

This research was funded by the Spanish MINECO and FEDER (Consolider MONTES CSD2008-00040, CGL2012-36181 CGL2015-65807-P to XC, and CGL2013-43660-P to EA). Spanish MINECO also funded E.A. (postdoctoral Ramón y Cajal contract, RYC-2010-06663), J.B. (postdoctoral contracts JAE-DOC [E-41-2009-0724722] and Juan de la Cierva) and P.A-B. (predoctoral contract [BES-2013-064713]).

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  1. Paloma Alvarez-Blanco and Juli Broggi have contributed equally to this work.

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  1. Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), Avda. Américo Vespucio 26, 41092, Seville, Spain

    Paloma Alvarez-Blanco, Juli Broggi, Xim Cerdá, Oscar González-Jarri & Elena Angulo

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  1. Paloma Alvarez-Blanco
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  2. Juli Broggi
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PAB, JB, XC and EA designed the experiment. PAB and OGJ collected the data. PAB, JB and EA analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. All authors critiqued the manuscript for intellectual content.

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Correspondence to Juli Broggi.

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All procedures were conducted according to local ethical committee guidelines. The experimental procedures were approved by the national authorities (CEBA-EBD 11-36b, CSD2008-00040, 1043/MDCG/mect, 2014-1073-00000613-FQH/MDCG/mect, 2015-1073-00001494-FQH/MDCG/mect and 2015–1073-00003362-JPCD/MDCG/mes).

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Alvarez-Blanco, P., Broggi, J., Cerdá, X. et al. Breeding consequences for a songbird nesting in Argentine ant’ invaded land. Biol Invasions 22, 2883–2898 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-020-02297-3

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