Logging speeds little red fire ant invasion of Africa

Citation

Walsh PD, Henschel P, Abernethy K, Tutin CEG, Telfer P & Lahm SA (2004) Logging speeds little red fire ant invasion of Africa. Biotropica, 36 (4), pp. 637-640. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7429.2004.tb00358.x

Abstract
Here, we document the invasion of equatorial Africa by the little red fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata). Commercial logging and other forms of natural resource extraction have catapulted W. auropunctata into the interior of Gabon at a rate 60 times faster than the unassisted rate we measured over 19 years at the Lope Reserve. We also present photographic evidence suggesting that W. auropunctata is negatively affecting the country's exceptionally rich and intact large mammal fauna.

Keywords
equatorial Africa; invasive species; leopard; logging; Wasmannia auropunctata

Journal
Biotropica: Volume 36, Issue 4

People

Professor Katharine Abernethy

Professor, Biological and Environmental Sciences