The effect of Tawny crazy ants on the abundance of aboveground insect abundance in Texas

This data is to accompany the paper: Imported crazy ants displace native ants and drive aboveground insect abundance in a grassland green food webAbstract: A dominant recent invasive ant, <i>Nylanderia fulva</i>, is spreading across the Southeastern United States, but little is known about how this invasive ant may affect insect communities. We located a <i>N. fulva </i>invasion front in Goliad, TX to determine how this invasive ant affects the abundance and composition of other ants and green-food web arthropods in a disturbed Gulf Coast prairie. We found that within a half a year, <i>N. fulva</i> reaches numerical dominance. Areas where <i>N. fulva </i>were abundant were dominated mostly by <i>N. fulva </i>and the red imported fire ant, <i>Solenopsis invicta</i>, while areas where <i>N. fulva </i>were scarce was dominated by a mixture of native ants and <i>S. invicta</i>. We also found that in areas where <i>N. fulva </i>were abundant, there was a significantly greater abundance of honeydew-producing hemiptera from the Cicadellidae family, which is a likely factor aiding in the dominance and further spread of <i>N. fulva</i>. Additionally, areas were <i>N. fulva </i>were abundant had tended to have fewer grasshoppers from the Melanoplinae subfamily, which are likely decreasing in abundance due to direct predation and fleeing <i>N. fulva</i> abundant areas. Lastly, we found that Tettigoniidae nymphs were more abundant in <i>N. fulva </i>abundant areas. Our results support growing evidence that <i>N. fulva</i> can negatively affect the abundance and composition of insects in the brown- and green-food web, and strongly suggests that this invasive ant can have lasting effects on ecosystems it invades.