RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Red harvester ant (Order: Hymenoptera) preference for cover crop seeds in South Texas
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.01.14.476276
DO 10.1101/2022.01.14.476276
A1 Lilly Elliott
A1 Daniella Rivera
A1 Adrian Noval
A1 Robin A. Choudhury
A1 Hannah J. Penn
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/01/17/2022.01.14.476276.abstract
AB Harvester ants are known to selectively forage seeds, potentially impacting nearby plant community composition. In agricultural areas, harvester ants may be viewed as pests by foraging on crop seeds or as beneficials by preferentially removing weed seeds. However, little work has been done on harvester ant preferences for cover crop seeds. Local observations suggest that ants may take cover crop seeds, but no studies have evaluated ant agricultural impacts or seed preferences in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV). We examined red harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus Smith) preferences for commonly used cover crop seeds in the LRGV (vetch, oat, fescue, sunn hemp, and radish with wheatgrass as a control) and a commonly used bacterial seed inoculation treatment meant to increase root nodulation. We tested seed sets using choice tests housed in seed depots located within the foraging range of ant colonies with no prior exposure to the selected seeds. Of the evaluated cover crop seeds, wheatgrass and oat were the first to be removed entirely from the depot, with vetch remaining after 24 h. When we inoculated the two most preferred seeds to determine if there was a preference for non-inoculated seeds, we found no difference between inoculated and non-inoculated seeds. There were also significant changes in activity over time for both trials. These data indicate that harvester ant foraging preferences and activity can inform grower management recommendations regarding the risks of using certain cover crops and months sowing should be conducted in fields with known harvester ant presence.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.