Yuan Yulin, Chen Changqi, Zhang Ying, Zhang Jinlu, Liao Zhouyang, Liu Fang, Huang Zachary Y, Zhang Yuan
Key Laboratory of Forest Disaster Warning and Control of Yunnan Province, College of Forestry, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China.
College of Forestry, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming 650224, China.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Sep 8;15(17):2633. doi: 10.3390/ani15172633.
Global climate change, coupled with the escalating severity of species invasions, has profoundly impacted and continues to influence species distribution patterns across multiple spatial scales. The invasive ant species (yellow crazy ants) and the dominant species (weaver ants) share a significant overlapping distribution in tropical Asia and Oceania. The changes in their distribution areas, particularly in the overlapping regions, under future climate change scenarios remain inadequately explored. By integrating field behavioral experiments conducted on two ant species with climate and topographic datasets, we evaluated the extent of overlapping ranges and predicted the future dynamics of both species. Our results show that yellow crazy ants are more efficient at finding food and mobilizing workers, indicating stronger collaborative abilities than weaver ants. Under food and water deprivation conditions, yellow crazy ants exhibit a higher survival rate than weaver ants. Climatic factors exert a greater influence on the potential distribution of yellow crazy ants compared to topographic factors. Regions with consistently high suitability for yellow crazy ants primarily include southern China, Myanmar, India, Thailand, Malaysia, and Australia. The potential distribution area for weaver ants has constricted due to climate change, while that for yellow crazy ants has expanded. Initially, these two ant species had highly overlapping suitable habitats. However, this overlap is projected to diminish under future climate conditions. Mitigating future climate change could substantially reduce the expansion of yellow crazy ants. This discovery underscores the importance of monitoring and managing the dynamic changes in the distribution areas of both invasive and native species against the backdrop of climate change.
全球气候变化，加上物种入侵的严重性不断升级，已经对多个空间尺度上的物种分布模式产生了深远影响，并将继续产生影响。入侵蚂蚁物种（黄疯蚁）和优势物种（织叶蚁）在热带亚洲和大洋洲的分布有很大重叠。在未来气候变化情景下，它们分布区域的变化，特别是重叠区域的变化，仍未得到充分研究。通过将对这两种蚂蚁进行的野外行为实验与气候和地形数据集相结合，我们评估了重叠范围的程度，并预测了这两个物种未来的动态变化。我们的结果表明，黄疯蚁在寻找食物和调动工蚁方面效率更高，这表明其协作能力比织叶蚁更强。在食物和水匮乏的条件下，黄疯蚁的存活率高于织叶蚁。与地形因素相比，气候因素对黄疯蚁潜在分布的影响更大。黄疯蚁适宜性一直较高的区域主要包括中国南部、缅甸、印度、泰国、马来西亚和澳大利亚。由于气候变化，织叶蚁的潜在分布区域已经缩小，而黄疯蚁的潜在分布区域则有所扩大。最初，这两种蚂蚁有高度重叠的适宜栖息地。然而，预计在未来气候条件下这种重叠会减少。减缓未来气候变化可以大幅减少黄疯蚁的扩张。这一发现强调了在气候变化背景下监测和管理入侵物种和本地物种分布区域动态变化的重要性。
