Nearly every terrestrial ecosystem hosts invasive ant species, and many of those ant species construct underground nests near roots and/or tend phloem‐feeding hemipterans on plants. We have a limited understanding of how these invasive ant behaviours change photosynthesis, carbohydrate availability and growth of woody plants. We measured photosynthesis, water relations, carbohydrate concentrations and growth for screenhouse‐reared Though hemipteran infestations are often linked to declines in plant performance, our screenhouse experiment did not find an association between hemipteran presence and differences in plant physiology. However, we did find that soil nesting by
This content will become publicly available on June 1, 2024
- Award ID(s):
- 1935498
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10478878
- Publisher / Repository:
- Springer
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Biological Invasions
- Volume:
- 25
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 1387-3547
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1683 to 1691
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- ["Ant acacia","invasive soil macrofauna","Pheidole megacephala","root functional traits","soil ecosystem engineering","Vachellia drepanolobium"]
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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