"Neighborhood interactions and territory size in the fire ant"
For many animals, the defense of foraging territories serves as an important mechanism of population regulation. Models of territory size can help to understand the population ecology of these species by predicting how the partitioning of territories changes in response to variation in food supply or competitive environment. A recent model predicts territory sizes and shapes for contiguous neighbors as a result of competitive interactions at territory boundaries. This research tests and extends this model through a series of field experiments on colonies of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta. Methods will include manipulations of colony sizes and competitive neighborhoods, controlled supplements of food density in local patches and across pairs of territories, standardized measurements of aggression, and game theoretical models of territory interactions.
This work will develop a general approach to the study of territoriality, and other interactions, for which the spatial outcome of one individual's actions depend on the decisions and reactions of multiple neighbors. This approach can be applied to a wide variety of habitats and animals, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. A specific model will be developed and tested for the fire ant. This information will be used to improve prediction of population dynamics for this important insect pest.
