Global Invasion History of the Fire Ant Solenopsis invicta
Marina S. Ascunce1,2,*, Chin-Cheng Yang1,3,*, Jane Oakey4, Luis Calcaterra5, Wen-Jer Wu3, Cheng-Jen Shih3, Jérôme Goudet6, Kenneth G. Ross7, and DeWayne Shoemaker1,†
Abstract
The fire ant Solenopsis invicta is a significant pest that was inadvertently introduced into the southern United States almost a century ago and more recently into California and other regions of the world. An assessment of genetic variation at a diverse set of molecular markers in 2144 fire ant colonies from 75 geographic sites worldwide revealed that at least nine separate introductions of S. invicta have occurred into newly invaded areas and that the main southern U.S. population is probably the source of all but one of these introductions. The sole exception involves a putative serial invasion from the southern United States to California to Taiwan. These results illustrate in stark fashion a severe negative consequence of an increasingly massive and interconnected global trade and travel system.
Science 25 February 2011: Vol. 331 no. 6020 pp. 1066-1068
No comments:
Post a Comment
Am I wrong? A misinterpretation of the data? Questions about what is what? Let me know.