Interaction and resource exploitations between invasive and native ants in cocoa and surronding farmlands in southern Cameroon rainforest

Abstract

Here, we studied the interaction and assessed the exploitation of feeding and nesting resources by exotic versus local ants in farmlands in 2010 and 2021 in southern Cameroon. We considered invaded and non-plots by the invasive ant Wasmannia auropunctata and randomly selected and checked plant species for the presence of native ants and associated resources like Extrafloral Nectaries (EFN), Honeydew Producing Hemipterans (HPH) and Shelters (SH). Twenty-five out of 31 plants species checked bore distributed as follow: 56% of EFN, 52% of HPH and 48% of SH. In non-invaded plots, eight native ant species were found exploiting 48% of EFN and SH and attended eight morpho-species of hemipterans while W. auropunctata was found on 100% of resources and attended 12 morpho-species of hemipterans with Stictococcus sjôstedti (Stictococcidae) being the most abundant in invaded plot. These findings support ‘’niche opportunity hypothesis’’ in W. auropunctata and demonstrate its ability to dominate resources and to attend more hemipterans unlike native ants.