title: Survival of transplanted nests of the red wood ant Formica aquilonia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): the effects of intraspecific competition and forest clear-cutting.
abstract: The fitness and survival of ant colonies depend on the resources near their nests. These resources may be limited due to poor habitat quality or by intra- and interspecific competitions, which in extreme cases may cause the ant colony to perish. We tested the effect of intraspecific competition and habitat degradation (forest clear-cutting) on colony survival by transplanting 26 nests of the red wood ant (Formica aquilonia Yarrow, 1955) in 26 different forest areas that contained 0-11 conspecific alien nests per hectare. F. aquilonia is highly dependent on canopy-dwelling aphids, thus the removal of trees should cause food limitation. During the course of the 4-year experiment, 9 of the forests were partially clear-cut. We found that while forest clear-cutting significantly decreased the colonies' survival, intraspecific competition did not. As a highly polygynous and polydomous species, F. aquilonia seems to tolerate the presence of alien conspecific colonies to a certain extent.
authors: Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, FI-20014 University of Turku, Finland; Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211, Kuopio, Finland.
authors: Jouni
authors: J
authors: Sorvari
authors: Esa
authors: E
authors: Huhta
authors: Harri
authors: H
authors: Hakkarainen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D001042:Aphids; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D017753:Ecosystem; D005387:Finland; D016468:Forestry / Q000379:methods*; D065928:Forests
keywords: colony survival; habitat degradation; polydomy; red wood ants; relocation experiment