Logging Speeds Little Red Fire Ant Invasion of Africa

Peter D. Walsh; Phillipp Henschel; Kate A. Abernethy; Caroline E. G. Tutin; Paul Telfer; Sally A. Lahm

doi:10.1646/1605

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Peter D. Walsh,¹ Phillipp Henschel,² Kate A. Abernethy,³ Caroline E. G. Tutin,³ Paul Telfer,⁴ Sally A. Lahm⁵

¹Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540, U.S.A
²Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York 10460-1099, U.S.A
³Department of Biological and Molecular Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland
⁴New York University, Dept. of Anthropology, 25 Waverly Place, New York, New York 10003 U.S.A
⁵Institut de Recherche en Ecologie Tropicale, BP 13354, Libreville, Gabon

Abstract

Here, we document the invasion of equatorial Africa by the little red fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata). Commercial logging and other forms of natural resource extraction have catapulted W. auropunctata into the interior of Gabon at a rate 60 times faster than the unassisted rate we measured over 19 years at the Lope Reserve. We also present photographic evidence suggesting that W. auropunctata is negatively affecting the country's exceptionally rich and intact large mammal fauna.

Citation Download Citation

Peter D. Walsh, Phillipp Henschel, Kate A. Abernethy, Caroline E. G. Tutin, Paul Telfer, and Sally A. Lahm "Logging Speeds Little Red Fire Ant Invasion of Africa," BIOTROPICA 36(4), 637-641, (1 December 2004). https://doi.org/10.1646/1605

Received: 18 December 2003; Accepted: 1 June 2004; Published: 1 December 2004