Niche Shifts Induce Major Changes in the Ranges of the World's Worst Invasive Ant Species
ABSTRACT Invasive ants have exerted major effects on global ecosystems and economic systems. Therefore, their future niche and range shifts have received more research attention; however, the shifts between their native and introduced populations have not been widely investigated. Here, we examined...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71754 |
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| author | Qiance Wei Xueyou Zhang Xiaokang Hu Jianmeng Feng |
| author_facet | Qiance Wei Xueyou Zhang Xiaokang Hu Jianmeng Feng |
| author_sort | Qiance Wei |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Invasive ants have exerted major effects on global ecosystems and economic systems. Therefore, their future niche and range shifts have received more research attention; however, the shifts between their native and introduced populations have not been widely investigated. Here, we examined niche and range shifts between native and introduced populations of 18 IUCN‐recognized invasive ant species based on 133,786 global occurrence records. Most introduced populations have undergone substantial niche and range expansions compared to their native counterparts. Tapinoma melanocephalum, Paratrechina longicornis, Lasius neglectus, and Acromyrmex octospinosus had the largest introduced potential ranges, expanding ranges, and centroid shifts in their niches and ranges, respectively, suggesting that their invasion risk is high and thus that they require increased attention. Introduced range overlap was greatest in the southeastern USA and Europe, and the largest areas of the expanding range were observed in the southeastern USA, Mexico, and Brazil, indicating that these are the priority regions for combatting their impacts. Additionally, we detected strong positive associations between their niche and range shifts, and small niche shifts induced large range shifts. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-192a50479bad47189e6b5ce2c37f35fd |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj-art-192a50479bad47189e6b5ce2c37f35fd2025-08-20T03:58:44ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582025-07-01157n/an/a10.1002/ece3.71754Niche Shifts Induce Major Changes in the Ranges of the World's Worst Invasive Ant SpeciesQiance Wei0Xueyou Zhang1Xiaokang Hu2Jianmeng Feng3College of Agriculture and Biological Science Dali University Dali Yunnan ChinaCollege of Agriculture and Biological Science Dali University Dali Yunnan ChinaCollege of Agriculture and Biological Science Dali University Dali Yunnan ChinaCollege of Agriculture and Biological Science Dali University Dali Yunnan ChinaABSTRACT Invasive ants have exerted major effects on global ecosystems and economic systems. Therefore, their future niche and range shifts have received more research attention; however, the shifts between their native and introduced populations have not been widely investigated. Here, we examined niche and range shifts between native and introduced populations of 18 IUCN‐recognized invasive ant species based on 133,786 global occurrence records. Most introduced populations have undergone substantial niche and range expansions compared to their native counterparts. Tapinoma melanocephalum, Paratrechina longicornis, Lasius neglectus, and Acromyrmex octospinosus had the largest introduced potential ranges, expanding ranges, and centroid shifts in their niches and ranges, respectively, suggesting that their invasion risk is high and thus that they require increased attention. Introduced range overlap was greatest in the southeastern USA and Europe, and the largest areas of the expanding range were observed in the southeastern USA, Mexico, and Brazil, indicating that these are the priority regions for combatting their impacts. Additionally, we detected strong positive associations between their niche and range shifts, and small niche shifts induced large range shifts.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71754amplification effectsclimatic nichesclimatic rangesglobal dynamicsinvasive ants |
| spellingShingle | Qiance Wei Xueyou Zhang Xiaokang Hu Jianmeng Feng Niche Shifts Induce Major Changes in the Ranges of the World's Worst Invasive Ant Species Ecology and Evolution amplification effects climatic niches climatic ranges global dynamics invasive ants |
| title | Niche Shifts Induce Major Changes in the Ranges of the World's Worst Invasive Ant Species |
| title_full | Niche Shifts Induce Major Changes in the Ranges of the World's Worst Invasive Ant Species |
| title_fullStr | Niche Shifts Induce Major Changes in the Ranges of the World's Worst Invasive Ant Species |
| title_full_unstemmed | Niche Shifts Induce Major Changes in the Ranges of the World's Worst Invasive Ant Species |
| title_short | Niche Shifts Induce Major Changes in the Ranges of the World's Worst Invasive Ant Species |
| title_sort | niche shifts induce major changes in the ranges of the world s worst invasive ant species |
| topic | amplification effects climatic niches climatic ranges global dynamics invasive ants |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71754 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT qiancewei nicheshiftsinducemajorchangesintherangesoftheworldsworstinvasiveantspecies AT xueyouzhang nicheshiftsinducemajorchangesintherangesoftheworldsworstinvasiveantspecies AT xiaokanghu nicheshiftsinducemajorchangesintherangesoftheworldsworstinvasiveantspecies AT jianmengfeng nicheshiftsinducemajorchangesintherangesoftheworldsworstinvasiveantspecies |