Tuesday, 19 November 2002
D0365

This presentation is part of : Display Presentations, Subsection Cd. Behavior and Ecology

Investigation of red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta impacts on karst invertebrate communities at Fort Hood, Texas

Steven J. Taylor1, Jean K. Krejca2, Michael L. Denight3, and Vanessa R. Block1. (1) Illinois Natural History Survey, Center for Biodiversity, 607 East Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL, (2) The University of Texas at Austin, Integrative Biology CO930 PAT140, School of Biological Sciences, Austin, TX, (3) U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, 2902 Newmark Drive, Champaign, IL

Red Imported Fire Ant (RIFA), Solenopsis invicta, predation upon karst invertebrate communities in central Texas has been previously reported in studies by Elliott, Reddell and Cokendolpher. We are conducting a year-long study of six caves to quantify aspects of this phenomenon. The study sites are at Fort Hood (Bell and Coryell counties, Texas), near the northern limit of the Edwards Plateau, where caves harbor a variety of troglobitic macroinvertebrates - including several narrowly endemic taxa. Above ground, we use timed bait censusing to measure RIFA foraging activity on a grid of points centered over cave entrances and conduct mound counts within the study plots. Inside the caves, timed RIFA bait traps are placed along an in-cave transect. Visual censusing in a 0.1 m2 quadrate frame quantifies diversity and abundance of cavernicoles along the in-cave transect. Preliminary results corroborate earlier observations in that RIFA mound density and foraging activity are higher at disturbed, open sites.

Species 1: Hymenoptera Formicidae Solenopsis invicta (red imported fire ant, fire ant)
Species 2: Orthoptera Rhaphidophoridae Ceuthophilus secretus (cave cricket)
Keywords: conservation, speleology

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