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Effects of aphid-tending Argentine ants, nitrogen enrichment and early-season herbivory on insects hosted by a coastal shrub

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Abstract

The presence of the exotic Argentine ant, Linepithema humile Mayr (Hymenoptera: Dolichoderinae), nitrogen enrichment, and early-season herbivory by the specialist beetle Trirhabda bacharidis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) have been shown, through separate experiments, to affect the densities of insect herbivores of the coastal shrub Baccharis halimifolia (Asteraceae), in Florida. Using a fully-factorial field experiment, we examined the relative importance of all three of these factors to the six most common insect herbivore species utilizing this host plant in a West Central Florida coastal habitat. The presence of ants affected more herbivore species than either early-season herbivory by larval T. bacharidis or nitrogen enrichment. Experimental reductions of L. humile resulted in reductions of an aphid, its coccinellid predators, and adult T. bacharidis, and increases of two species of leafminers and one species of stemborer. Due to the strong negative effects of stemborer herbivory on host plant survival, the increase in stemborer abundance led to increased host plant mortality. Early-season herbivory by larval T. bacharidis only affected the abundance of aphids and their predators, both of which were more abundant on trees with reduced early-season herbivory. Nitrogen fertilization had the most limited effects and only T. bacharidis larvae achieved higher densities on fertilized trees. Our results indicate that aphid tending by the exotic L. humile affects other insects on B. halimifolia more so than herbivory by the exploitative competitor T. bacharidis or nitrogen as a limiting nutrient.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Sylvia Lukasiewicz for help with field work, Robert Browning and Jim Wilson at Fort De Soto Park for use of the field site. This work was funded by NSF grant DEB 03-15190.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Natural Sciences, Eckerd College, 4200 54th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL, 33711, USA

    Laura Altfeld

  2. Department of Biology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Peter Stiling

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  1. Laura Altfeld
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  2. Peter Stiling
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Correspondence to Laura Altfeld.

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Altfeld, L., Stiling, P. Effects of aphid-tending Argentine ants, nitrogen enrichment and early-season herbivory on insects hosted by a coastal shrub. Biol Invasions 11, 183–191 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9223-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9223-4

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