DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzp0
title: Dominance of a highly invasive ant is limited to the nesting territory of its supercolony

description: Ant invasions represent a serious threat to biodiversity, agriculture and
 public health. Highly invasive ant species exhibit a very high abundance
 within its introduced range and cause severe impacts on native ant
 communities. This scenario tends to be different within the native range,
 where competitor ants may limit its access to food sources, thus its
 abundance. Here, we evaluated the competitive ability of a typical clonal
 and supercolonial native population of Wasmannia auropunctata in
 Argentina. We used a combination of pitfall traps and food baits to study
 the ant interactions within an assemblage where W. auropunctata coexists
 with another great invader, Solenopsis invicta. The studied assemblage
 presented 56 ant species/morphospecies. Although W. auropunctata was the
 most abundant numerically, its ability to discover baits was intermediate
 and its ability to recruit workers massively and monopolize baits was low.
 Wasmannia auropunctata was not successful defending baits nor attempting
 to usurp baits dominated by other species. Moreover, it lost all contests
 against S. invicta, one of the most ecologically dominant species in this
 assemblage. Wasmannia auropunctata dominated food sources only when they
 were located within the nesting territory of its supercolony. Within the
 native range, clonality and supercoloniality may favor the local numerical
 abundance of a highly invasive ant but may not be enough to achieve
 ecological dominance. This study sheds light on the important role of
 biotic interactions as a key factor that may limit the dispersal of
 invasive species.
description: This dataset consists of two tables, the first one is a
 presence-absence (1/0) data set. The ants were collected in the field
 using pitfall traps. The second table shows the number of ants of each
 species in each pitfall trap.
description: # Dominance of a highly invasive ant is limited to the nesting territory
 of its supercolony
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzp0](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzp0) ## Description of the data and file structure A total of 126 pitfall traps were placed on the ground in the vegetation near the edge of a dirt road, around 10 meters apart to ensure their independence along linear transects in the field, near Loreto, Santiago del Estero, Argentina. Each trap consisted of a 50 ml plastic tube, 3 cm in diameter, with around 25 ml of water and a few drops of detergent to reduce surface tension and prevent ants from escaping. Each trap was buried at ground level, and after 48 hours the ants were separated and preserved in 96% alcohol for identification in the laboratory. All ants were identified to species or morphospecies with Kusnezov's key (1978) and other keys for each genus available on AntWeb ([https://www.antweb.org/](https://www.antweb.org/)). Reference specimens were deposited in the entomological collection of the FuEDEI, Hurlingham, Argentina. ### Files and variables #### File: pitfalls_datasheet_Chifflet_Calcaterra_2024.xlsx **Description:**  ##### Variables In the first table: * presence: 1 * absence: 0 In the second table: * number of ants per species per pitfall trap ## Code/software You can open this data using Microsoft Office Excel