Evaluating the effects of red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) on juvenile Houston Toads (Bufo [=Anaxyrus] houstonensis) in Colorado County, TX.

ABSTRACT: The spread of invasive species is considered a major threat to biodiversity, second only to habitat loss. Red Imported Fire Ants (Solenopsis invicta) are a globally invasive species with negative impacts reported on native invertebrate and vertebrate species. Federally endangered Houston Toads (Bufo [=Anaxyrus] houstonensis), endemic to Texas, are among the vertebrates reportedly negatively impacted by Red Imported Fire Ants (RIFA). Threats posed by RIFA to Houston Toads needed to be explicitly characterized. Large-scale chemical treatments to suppress RIFA and facilitate brood survival in Attwater's prairie-chickens (Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) at the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge (APCNWR) afforded us an opportunity to experimentally examine the influence of RIFA abu

SUBMITTER: Sirsi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7017801 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature