Title
Logging speeds little red fire ant invasion of Africa
Author(s)
Walsh, P.D.; Henschel, P.; Abernethy, K.A.; Tutin, C.E.G.; Telfer, P.; Lahm, S.A.
Published
2004
Publisher
Biotropica
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.
Keywords
ant; biological invasion; logging (timber); Africa; Central Africa; Eastern Hemisphere; Gabon; Lope Reserve; Ogooue-Ivindo; Sub-Saharan Africa; World; Felidae; Formicidae; Mammalia; Panthera pardus; Solenopsis geminata; Solenopsis invicta; Wasmannia; Wasmannia auropunctata; TRAMP-ANT; HYMENOPTERA
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PUB12373