Is it easy to be urban? Convergent success in urban habitats among lineages of a widespread native ant.

ABSTRACT: The most rapidly expanding habitat globally is the urban habitat, yet the origin and life histories of the populations of native species that inhabit this habitat remain poorly understood. We use DNA barcoding of the COI gene in the widespread native pest ant Tapinoma sessile to test two hypotheses regarding the origin of urban populations and traits associated with their success. First, we determine if urban samples of T. sessile have a single origin from natural populations by looking at patterns of haplotype clustering from across their range. Second, we examine whether polygynous colony structure--a trait associated with invasion success--is correlated with urban environments, by studying the lineage dependence of colony structure. Our phylogenetic analysis of 49 samples identified fou

SUBMITTER: Menke SB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2820551 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature