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The Ecological and Population Genetic Consequences of Invasion by the European Fire Ant, Myrmica Rubra, in Ontario

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The Ecological and Population Genetic Consequences of Invasion by the European Fire Ant, Myrmica Rubra, in Ontario The Ecological and Population Genetic Consequences of Invasion by the European Fire Ant, Myrmica rubra, in Ontario by Shannon Meadley Dunphy A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Toronto © Copyright by Shannon Meadley Dunphy 2016 The Ecological and Population Genetic Consequences of Invasion by the European Fire Ant, Myrmica rubra, in Ontario Shannon Meadley Dunphy Masters of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Toronto 2016 Abstract When a species is introduced to a new area there are often consequences both for the population genetics of the species, and for the community it invades. In order to understand the population biology and spread of the invasive European fire ant, M. rubra, in its introduced range, we examined the existing population genetic structure of M. rubra in urban-parkland areas of Toronto. We discovered two genetic groups, and discuss the possibility that this may be the result of multiple introductions of the ant or local adaptation to variable habitats. To examine the effects that M. rubra has on a native ant seed-dispersal mutualism, we used a mesocosm experiment. We showed that M. rubra disperses seeds further from its nests than a native “keystone” seed-dispersing ant. This resulted in a long-term influence of ant species identity on plant survival, spatial arrangement, and community composition. ii Acknowledgments First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Megan Frederickson, for all of her support over the past few years, and for venturing down the unknown paths of both population genetics and spatial statistics with me. Megan, thank you for taking me in as an undergrad, you have taught me so much in the past four years, but I feel like I still have so much to learn. I would like to thank my committee members Asher Cutter, Marie-Josée Fortin, and James Thomson, for initially encouraging me to try new things far outside of my comfort zone, and then helping me and answering my questions when I got stuck. I would also like to thank Ben Gilbert and Peter Kotanen for sitting on my defense committee. I would like to acknowledge the invaluable help provided both Kirsten Prior and Pierre-Jean Malé, who are both co-authors and have been important mentors to me. Pierre-Jean Malé taught me the molecular genetic and bioinformatics skills that I needed, and had great patience with my steep learning curve for molecular and wet lab skills. Kirsten Prior was an amazingly encouraging mentor, and I learned so much from working with her in the field. This thesis would not have been possible without either of them. Thank you to The Frederickson Lab—Rebecca Batstone, Pierre-Jean Malé, Emily Dutton, Jason Laurich, and Susan Gordon—for your friendship, support, and help. I am especially grateful for you putting up with M. rubra stings so I could collect my samples. The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology has been an extremely supportive, welcoming, challenging and importantly, fun, group of friends. Although there are too many people to thank here, thank you to everyone who has helped get me though these past two years and for making this journey so much more enjoyable. The Koffler Scientific Reserve was an amazing place to spend my summers conducting fieldwork; I would like to thank everyone there who made my two summers at KSR the most memorable; in particular Stephan Schneider and Shannon McCauley, who provided valuable logistic, scientific, and moral support. Lastly, I would to thank my family and friends outside of the department. Thank you to Patricia Huang, Premika Premachandiran, Maham Waqar, Ramlah Ismail, and Zara Samiuddin, for all your craziness and for being an excellent distraction from grad school. Even though my parents iii didn’t buy me my first ant colony when I was nine and begged them to, and they still didn’t cave when I proclaimed that I wanted to turn my entire bedroom into a giant ant farm, they have subsequently come around to the wonderful world of ants and ecology; without their support I would have never made it this far. Finally I would like to thank my always-amazing 90-year-old grandmother, Kathleen Dunphy, for her consistent encouragement and faith in all 16 of her grandchildren; and for her suggestion of the official alternate title to my thesis: “Ants I have known (and killed)”. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................v List of Tables ............................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ..................................................................................................................................x List of Appendices ....................................................................................................................... xiv General Introduction ...................................................................................................................xv References ............................................................................................................................. xviii Chapter 1 Population genetics of the invasive European fire ant, Myrmica rubra, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada ........................................................................................................1 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................1 Methods .......................................................................................................................................5 Field sampling ......................................................................................................................5 Genotyping ...........................................................................................................................6 Data analysis ........................................................................................................................6 Results .........................................................................................................................................8 Discussion .................................................................................................................................10 Figures and Tables ....................................................................................................................15 References .................................................................................................................................24 Chapter 2 Who dispersed it best? Differences in seed dispersal between native and invasive ants alters the spatial pattern of seedling recruitment and survival ...................28 Abstract .....................................................................................................................................28 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................29 Methods .....................................................................................................................................32 Study system and site .........................................................................................................32 v Mesocosm experiment .......................................................................................................33 Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................34 (i) Spatial description of seedling locations .......................................................................34 (ii) Location of seedlings in relation to ant nests ...............................................................35 (iii) Location of seedlings in relation to other plants .........................................................36 (iv) Effects of spatial location on C. majus fitness ............................................................37 Results .......................................................................................................................................37 (i) Spatial description of seedling locations .......................................................................37 (ii) Location of seedlings in relation to ant nests ...............................................................38 (iii) Location of seedlings in relation to other plants .........................................................39 (iv) Effects of spatial location on C. majus fitness ............................................................40 Discussion .................................................................................................................................40 Tables and Figures ....................................................................................................................46 References .................................................................................................................................59
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