Reducing Native Ant Abundance Decreases Predation Rates in Midwestern Grasslands.

ABSTRACT: Diverse and robust predator communities are important for effective prey suppression in natural and managed communities. Ants are ubiquitous components of terrestrial systems but their contributions to natural prey suppression is relatively understudied in temperate regions. Growing evidence suggests that ants can play a significant role in the removal of insect prey within grasslands, but their impact is difficult to separate from that of nonant predators. To test how ants may contribute to prey suppression in grasslands, we used poison baits (with physical exclosures) to selectively reduce the ant population in common garden settings, then tracked ant and nonant ground predator abundance and diversity, and removal of sentinel egg prey for 7 wk. We found that poison baits reduced ant abun

SUBMITTER: Wills B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6894410 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature