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Fire Ants on Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches in South Florida, Usa, and St FIRE ANTS ON SEA TURTLE NESTING BEACHES IN SOUTH FLORIDA, USA, AND ST. CROIX, USVI by Danielle Kioshima Romais A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Charles E. Schmidt College of Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida December 2013 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all who helped me, encouraged me, guided me and cheered for me throughout the development of this research. Thanks to my family, friends, co-workers, professors and mentors. Dr. James K. Wetterer, I would like to thank you for the trust you invested in me from the very beginning. Thank you for the opportunity to conduct research in this topic. Thank you for the great ideas and the freedom to develop the work as my own. Dr. Jon Moore and Dr. Erik Noonburg, I would like to thank you for being members of this thesis committee. Thank you for the timely and valuable advice on methodology. Thanks to Claudia Lombard from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service in St. Croix, USVI, for being so helpful during the Sandy Point survey. Thanks to Dr. Mark Deyrup at Archibold Biological Station for conducting the final identification of all the ant species surveyed. Your expertise is unmatched. Thanks to Dr. Kirk Rusenko and the Sea Turtle Research Team at Gumbo Limbo Nature Center for the logistic and GIS support during the surveys conducted in Boca Raton, FL. iii Thanks to the Environmental Science Program staff and faculty for setting the stage for learning and meaningful research to take place. Thanks to the Geosciences Department for all the help in getting through this process as well. Thanks to the Biology Department for the TA opportunity. Thanks to Dr. Gawlik and Dr. Markwith for allowing me to use their lab space during this research. Thanks to Kavita Balkaran for conducting the survey in Jack Bay. Thanks to André C. Kioshima for helping with survey in Pompano Beach. Thanks to Ariel Shtauber for helping with survey in Boca Raton. Thanks to Dr. Sanford Porter for his expertise on fire ants and also for the images provided. Thanks to Dr. Julio C. de Souza for images of our beautiful Brazilian Pantanal. Thanks to Donna Selch, Mark Rochello for creating the sea turtle/fire ant interaction map. Thanks also to Hilton Cordoba for helping me design the maps for the study areas. You all rock! Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my wonderful husband, Jeff Romais, for the unconditional support and love during all this time. Thanks also to my beloved son, Kiyo, for being such an awesome trooper when I needed to be absent while working on this research. This is an accomplishment of our entire family, and I could not have done without the two of you! iv ABSTRACT Author: Danielle Kioshima Romais Title: Fire Ants on Sea Turtle Nesting Beaches in South Florida, USA, and St. Croix, USVI. Institution: Florida Atlantic University Thesis Advisor: Dr. James K. Wetterer Degree: Master of Science Year: 2013 The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is a South American native introduced in Alabama in the early 20th century. This predatory species has rapidly spread throughout the southeastern US and parts of the West Indies, inflicting great ecological and economic damage. For example, Solenopsis invicta is known to attack the eggs and hatchlings of ground nesting birds and reptiles. The ants swarm into the nests attacking hatchlings and diminishing their chance for survival. My thesis research aimed to survey the distribution of ants on sea turtle nesting beaches in South Florida and St. Croix, USVI, and to evaluate the possible threat of Solenopsis invicta and other predatory ants to sea turtle hatchlings. v DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my son, Kiyo Romais. He is my main source of inspiration, determination and strength. He is the reason I want to excel and make the world a little bit better. Kiyo, I know that - when you grow up and become a man – you will make a difference in this world. Thank you for inspiring me ever since you were conceived to be a better mom, a better citizen, a role model to you. Thank you for you unconditional love and never ending curiosity. I love you, Kiyo, to the moon and back 1000 times! FIRE ANTS ON SEA TURTLE NESTING BEACHES IN SOUTH FLORIDA, USA, AND ST. CROIX, USVI TABLES .............................................................................................................................. i FIGURES ............................................................................................................................ x 1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 5 2.1 Solenopsis sp. ....................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Fire Ants ............................................................................................................... 6 2.2.1 Native and introduced ranges ........................................................................... 7 2.2.2 Economic and health related impacts ............................................................... 8 2.3 Fire ants as a threat for sea turtle hatchlings ........................................................ 9 3 OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................................ 13 4 METHODS ................................................................................................................ 15 4.1 Study Areas ........................................................................................................ 15 4.1.1 Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge ...................................................................... 16 4.1.2 Jack Bay ...................................................................................................... 16 4.1.3 Boca Raton .................................................................................................. 17 4.1.4 Pompano Beach .......................................................................................... 19 4.2 Survey, Specimen Preservation and Identification ............................................ 21 4.2.1 Survey and Specimen Preservation ............................................................. 22 4.2.2 Specimen Identification .............................................................................. 23 4.3 Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge Follow-Up Study: Phase I ................................... 24 4.4 Baseline Distribution Survey: Phase II .............................................................. 26 4.4.1 Pompano Beach, FL .................................................................................... 26 4.4.2 Jack Bay, St. Croix, USVI. ......................................................................... 27 vii 4.5 The Boca Raton Survey: Phase III ..................................................................... 28 4.6 Statistical Analysis ............................................................................................. 29 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ................................................................................ 32 5.1 Sandy Point Wildlife Refuge Follow-Up Study: Phase I ................................... 32 5.2 Baseline Distribution Survey: Phase II .............................................................. 35 5.2.1 Pompano Beach Survey .............................................................................. 35 5.2.2 Jack Bay, St Croix Survey .......................................................................... 39 5.3 The Boca Raton Survey: Phase III ..................................................................... 41 5.3.1 Baseline Survey Results .............................................................................. 41 5.3.2 Methodology Consistency Analysis ........................................................... 44 5.3.3 Possible Threats to Sea Turtle Hatchlings .................................................. 53 5.4 Statistical Analysis ............................................................................................. 56 6 FINAL REMARKS ................................................................................................... 71 viii TABLES Table 1: Ant species surveyed in 2006 (Wetterer and Lombardo, 2010) ......................... 25 Table 2: List of ant species present at Sandy Point, St. Croix, USVI ............................... 33 Table 3: List of ant species in Pompano Beach, FL. ........................................................ 36 Table 4: List of ant species found in Jack Bay, St. Croix, USVI...................................... 39 Table 5: List of ant species present in the Boca Raton study site – Initial Survey ........... 43 Table 6: List of species found in Boca Raton - Survey II ................................................. 46 Table 7: List of species found in Boca Raton - Survey III ............................................... 48 Table 8: List of species found in Boca Raton - Survey IV ............................................... 50 Table 9: Comparison per site between the four sampling efforts in Boca Raton, FL - Species observed based on abundance of individuals ...................................... 52 Table 10: Observed (O) versus Expected (E) sites with native and exotic species in 2006 and 2010 - Sandy Point, St. Croix, USVI
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