Explore the vast range of titles available.

Invasive ants are amongst the most destructive and widespread invaders across the globe; they can strongly alter invaded ecosystems and are responsible for the loss of native ant species. Several studies have reported that invasive ants can also lead to substantial economic costs. In this study, we search, describe and analyse 1342 reported costs of invasive ants compiled in the InvaCost database. Economic costs, reported since 1930 for 12 ant species in 27 countries, totalled US$ 51.93 billion, from which US$ 10.95 billion were incurred, and US$ 40.98 billion were potential costs (i.e., expected or predicted costs). More than 80% of total costs were associated with only two species, Solenopsis invicta and Wasmannia auropunctata; and two countries, the USA and Australia. Overall, damage costs amounted to 92% of the total cost, mainly impacting the agriculture, public and social welfare sectors. Management costs were primarily post-invasion management (US$ 1.79 billion), with much lower amounts dedicated to prevention (US$ 235.63 million). Besides the taxonomic bias, cost information was lacking for an average of 78% of the invaded countries. Moreover, even in countries where costs were reported, such information was available for only 56% of the invaded locations. Our synthesis suggests that the global costs of invasive ants are massive but largely biased towards developed economies, with a huge proportion of underreported costs, and thus most likely grossly underestimated. We advocate for more and improved cost reporting of invasive ants through better collaborations between managers, practitioners and researchers, a crucial basis for adequately informing future budgets and improving proactive management actions of invasive ants.

Risk assessments are fundamental to invasive species management and are underpinned by comprehensive characterization of invasive species impacts. Our understanding of the impacts of invasive species is growing constantly, and several recently developed frameworks offer the opportunity to systematically categorize environmental and socioeconomic impacts of invasive species. Invasive ants are among the most widespread and damaging invaders. Although a handful of species receives most of the policy attention, nearly 200 species have established outside their native range. Here, we provide a global, comprehensive assessment of the impacts of ants and propose a priority list of risk species. We used the Socioeconomic Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (SEICAT), Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT) and Generic Impact Scoring System (GISS) to analyze 642 unique sources for 100 named species. Different methodologies provided generally consistent results. The most frequently identified socioeconomic impacts were to human health. Environmental impacts were primarily on animal and plant populations, with the most common mechanisms being predation and competition. Species recognized as harmful nearly 20 years ago featured prominently, including Wasmannia auropunctata (little fire ant, electric ant), Solenopsis invicta (red imported fire ant), Anoplolepis gracilipes (yellow crazy ant), and Pheidole megacephala (African big-headed ant). All these species except W. auropunctata have been implicated in local extinctions of native species. Although our assessments affirmed that the most serious impacts have been driven by a small number of species, our results also highlighted a substantial number of less well publicized species that have had major environmental impacts and may currently be overlooked when prioritizing prevention efforts. Several of these species were ranked as high or higher than some of the previously recognized \"usual suspects,\" most notably Nylanderia fulva (tawny crazy ant). We compared and combined our assessments with trait-based profiles and other lists to propose a consensus set of 31 priority species. Ever-increasing global trade contributes to growing rates of species introductions. The integrated approaches we used can contribute to robust, holistic risk assessments formany taxa entrained in these pathways.

Endogenous (or autonomous, or emergent) spatial pattern formation is a subject transcending a variety of sciences. In ecology, there is growing interest in how spatial patterns can ‘emerge’ from internal system processes and simultaneously affect those very processes. A classic situation emerges when a predator's focus on a dominant competitor releases competitive pressure on a subdominant competitor, allowing coexistence of the two. If this idea is formulated spatially, two interesting consequences immediately arise. First, a spatial predator/prey system may take the form of a Turing instability, in which an activator (the dispersing prey population) is contained by a repressor (the more rapidly dispersing predator population) generating a spatial pattern of clusters of prey and predators, and second, an indirect intransitive loop (where A beats B beats C beats A) emerges from the simple fact that the system is spatial. Two common invasive ant species, Wasmannia auropunctata and Solenopsis invicta, and the parasitic phorid flies of S. invicta commonly coexist in Puerto Rico. Emergent spatial patterns generated by the combination of the Turing mechanism and the indirect intransitive loop are likely to be common here. This theoretical framework and the realities of the natural history in the field could explain both the long-term coexistence of these two species, and the highly variable pattern of their occurrence across a large landscape.

Invasive ants are some of the most destructive species in ecosystems and can have serious ecological and socioeconomic impacts. The little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata, is native to Central and South America and was listed as one of the 100 most threatening major invasive organisms in the world by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The presence of W. auropunctata was first reported on the Chinese mainland in January 2022, but its distribution in China is still unclear. In this study, MaxEnt was used to predict the potential distribution of W. auropunctata in China based on known distribution points and climatic variables. The prediction results showed that most of the area south of the Yangtze River is potentially suitable for W. auropunctata, and temperature is the main factor affecting its distribution. The contemporary total suitable living area of W. auropunctata is 1,954,300 km2, accounting for 20.36% of China’s total land area. Further attention should be given to the potential impact of W. auropunctata invasions, and effective measures should be taken to eliminate the introduced population in China.

The little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata , is one of the most widely distributed invasive alien ant species on earth, with major environmental, economic and sanitary impacts. Here we report the first established outdoor population of W. auropunctata in South East of France. We describe its detection, its extent and its early ecological impacts. Currently, the invaded area extends over around 1 ha. Given the area invaded and the first reports of stings in 2019, it is likely that W. auropunctata was introduced at least 5 years ago. Although the introduction is probably recent, negative impacts on the abundance and richness of native ants can already be observed. We have not yet recorded any impact on other arthropods. In parallel with identifying the pathway of introduction, an eradication plan is being prepared to tackle this major environmental and economic problem. Widespread species such as the little fire ant represent a new challenge for biosecurity monitoring for Europe.

Encouraging motivated landowners to not only engage in conservation action on their own property but also to recruit others may enhance effectiveness of conservation on private lands. Landowners may only engage in such recruitment if they believe their neighbors care about the conservation issue, will positively respond to their conservation efforts, and are likely to take action for the conservation cause. We designed a series of microinterventions that can be added to community meetings to change these beliefs to encourage landowner engagement in recruitment of others. The microinterventions included neighbor discussion, public commitment making, collective goal setting, and increased observability of contributions to the conservation cause. In a field experiment, we tested whether adding microinterventions to traditional knowledge-transfer outreach meetings changed those beliefs so as to encourage landowners in Hawaii to recruit their neighbors for private lands conservation. We delivered a traditional outreach meeting about managing the invasive little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata) to 5 communities and a traditional outreach approach with added microinterventions to 5 other communities. Analysis of pre-and post-surveys of residents showed that compared with the traditional conservation outreach approach, the microinterventions altered a subset of beliefs that landowners had about others. These microinterventions motivated reputationally minded landowners to recruit and coordinate with other residents to control the invasive fire ant across property boundaries. Our results suggest integration of these microinterventions into existing outreach approaches will encourage some landowners to facilitate collective conservation action across property boundaries. Si se alienta a los propietarios motivados a no sólo participar con acciones de conservación en sus propiedades sino también a reclutar a otros, se podría mejorar la efectividad de la conservación en las propiedades privadas. Puede que los propietarios sólo se comprometan con el reclutamiento si consideran que a sus vecinos les importan los temas de conservación, si responderán positivamente a sus esfuerzos de conservación, y si tienen probabilidad de tomar acción por la causa de conservación. Diseñamos una serie de microintervenciones que pueden añadirse a las juntas comunitarias para cambiar estas creencias y así promover la participación de los propietarios en el reclutamiento de otros propietarios. Las microintervenciones incluyeron discusiones entre vecinos, firmas públicas de compromisos, el establecimiento de objetivos colectivos, y una observación incrementada de las contribuciones a la causa de la conservación. En un experimento de campo probamos si la suma de estas microintervenciones a las tradicionales juntas de participación con transferencia de conocimiento cambó dichas creencias de tal manera que alentara a los terratenientes en Hawái a reclutar a sus vecinos para la conservación de terrenos privados. Realizamos una junta tradicional de participación sobre el manejo de la hormiga de fuego (Wasmannia auropunctata), una especie invasora, para cinco comunidades y una estrategia tradicional de participación con la suma de microintervenciones para otras cinco comunidades. El análisis previo y posterior a las encuestas realizadas a los residentes mostró que, si se comparan con la estrategia tradicional de participación, las microintervenciones alteraron a un subconjunto de creencias que los propietarios tenían sobre los demás propietarios. Estas microintervenciones motivaron a los propietarios con una reputación de estar dispuestos a conservar a reclutar y coordinarse con otros residentes para controlar a la hormiga invasora atravesando los límites de las propiedades. Nuestros resultados sugieren que la integración de estas microintervenciones dentro de las estrategias existentes de participación alentará a algunos propietarios a facilitar las acciones de conservación colectiva a través de los límites de las propiedades. 鼓励积极的土地所有者不仅在自己的土地上开展保护行动，还去动员其他人参与保护，可以提高私 有土地的保护成效。然而，土地所有者只有在相信他们的邻居也关心保护问题、会积极地响应保护工作, 且有可 能采取保护行动的前提下，才会对他们发起动员。我们设计了一系列可以加人到社区会议中的微干预措施, 来改 变土地所有者的信念，鼓励他们参与动员其他人。这些微干预措施包括邻居间的讨论、制定公共承诺、设立集 体巨标，提高了对保护贡献的可观察性。在一项实地研究中，我们测试了在传统的知识传递推广会议中加人这些 微干预措施是否能改变这些信念，从而鼓励夏威夷的土地所有者去动员他们的邻居进行私有土地保护。我们在 五个社区开展了关于人侵小火蚁(Wasmannia auropunctata) 治理的传统推广会议，而在另外五个社区，还在传 统推广会议中加人了微干预措施的内容。对会议前后的居民调查显示，与传统的保护推广方法相比，微干预改变 了土地所有者对他人的部分观念。这些微干预措施激励了有声誉意识的土地所有者去动员和协调其他居民，一 起跨越私有土地边界控制人侵火蚊。我们的結果表明, 将这些微干预纳人现有的谁广方法中，可以鼓励土地所有 者去推动跨私有土地边界的集体保护行动

Androgenesis is a form of quasi-sexual reproduction in which a male is the sole source of the nuclear genetic material in the embryo. Two types of androgenesis occur in nature. Under the first type, females produce eggs without a nucleus and the embryo develops from the male gamete following fertilization. Evolution of this type of androgenesis is poorly understood as the parent responsible for androgenesis (the mother) gains no benefit from it. Ultimate factors driving the evolution of the second type of androgenesis are better understood. In this case, a zygote is formed between a male and a female gamete, but the female genome is eliminated. When rare, androgenesis with genome elimination is favoured because an androgenesis-determining allele has twice the reproductive success of an allele that determines sexual reproduction. Paradoxically, except in hermaphrodites, a successful androgenetic strain can drive such a male-biased sex ratio that the population goes extinct. This likely explains why androgenesis with genome elimination appears to be rarer than androgenesis via non-nucleate eggs, although both forms are either very rare or remain largely undetected in nature. Nonetheless, some highly invasive species including ants and freshwater clams are androgenetic, for reasons that are largely unexplained. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Weird sex: the underappreciated diversity of sexual reproduction’.

Ants can particularly make for harmful pests, infesting human homes and reducing crop yields. The damage caused by ants and the efforts to mitigate the damage are hugely costly. Broad-spectrum insecticides are used most commonly; however, due to their negative side effects, there is increasing interest in nontoxic alternatives. One promising commercially available alternative is 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde, which is naturally produced by various arthropods as a means of chemical defense and effectively repels ants. Here we conduct a structure–activity relationship investigation, testing how different chemical modifications alter the repellence of 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde. We find that 2-methoxybenzaldehyde is considerably more effective than 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde at repelling the common black garden ant, Lasius niger. We next compare the most effective repellent chemicals against 4 particularly harmful ant species to confirm that the results obtained with L. niger are general to ants and that our results are relevant to mitigate the costs of ant damage.

Aim: Biological invasions result from the combination of (i) population dispersal opportunities and (ii) adaptations to the recipient environment. Identifying complex migration histories, made of long-distance dispersal from the native range and secondary introductions, or genetic patterns indicative of adaptation is crucial to build coherent management efforts of problematic invasive species. We here aimed at determining the routes of introduction and describing the genetic peculiarities of recent introductions of Wasmannia auropunctata, a destructive invasive ant species with a polymorphic clonal/sexual reproduction system. Location: We focused on three recently established European populations (Cyprus, France and Spain) and their relationship with earlier worldwide introductions and the native South American range of W. auropunctata. Methods: We used a combination of cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequencing and genotyping of a total of 686 European individuals at 12 microsatellite loci (from 76 nests and seven localities), together with previous worldwide datasets totalling 503 COI sequences and 6963 genotyped individuals. Phylogenetic reconstruction and genetic differentiation analyses were used to infer the origin, reproduction systems and genetic diversity of the three European populations. Results: We show that the history of the invasion of Europe is a mix of secondary introductions from a Mediterranean bridgehead population (Israel), and a novel long-distance introduction from a climatically similar area of northeastern Argentina. All newly introduced populations reproduce clonally and display an outbred genotypic pattern, consistent with all prior introductions and with anthropised areas of the native range.2 of 15 Diversity and Distributions, 2025Main Conclusions: This study confirms that preventing novel introductions is complex and requires adequate surveillancetools to simultaneously monitor areas of the native range with potential prior adaptation and previous introductions that couldact as bridgeheads. Because of their ecological and genetic similarities, the fate of more ancient introductions could help us fore-see what the future holds for European introductions.

Invasive non‐native species (INNS) are recognized as a major threat to island biodiversity, ecosystems, and economies globally. Preventing high‐risk INNS from being introduced is the most cost‐effective way to avoid their adverse impacts. We applied a horizon scanning approach to identify potentially INNS in the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (OTs), ranging from Antarctica to the Caribbean, and from the Pacific to the Atlantic. High‐risk species were identified according to their potential for arrival, establishment, and likely impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem function, economies, and human health. Across OTs, 231 taxa were included on high‐risk lists. The highest ranking species were the Asian green mussel (Perna viridis), little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata), brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), and mesquite tree (Prosopis juliflora). Shipping containers were identified as the introduction pathway associated with the most species. The shared high‐risk species and pathways identified provide a guide for other remote islands and archipelagos to focus ongoing biosecurity and surveillance aimed at preventing future incursions.