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9-1993

Fifteen Years of Colony Dynamics in occidentalis, the Western Harvester , in Western Nebraska

Kathleen H. Keeler University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected]

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Keeler, Kathleen H., "Fifteen Years of Colony Dynamics in Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, the Western , in Western Nebraska" (1993). Faculty Publications in the Biological Sciences. 289. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/bioscifacpub/289

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Papers in the Biological Sciences at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications in the Biological Sciences by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Keeler in Southwestern Naturalist (Spetember 1993) 38(3): 1,229-1,232. Copyright 1993, Southwestern Association of Naturalists. Used by permission.

286 The SouthwesternNaturalist vol. 38, no. 3

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FIFTEEN YEARS OF COLONY DYNAMICS IN POGONOMYRMEX OCCIDENTALIS, THE WESTERN HARVESTER ANT, IN WESTERN NEBRASKA

KATHLEEN H. KEELER

Schoolof Biological Sciences, University ofNebraska-Lincoln, LincolnNE 68588-0343

Ecological communitiesrespond to environ- Fifty-sixmounds of Pogonomyrmex occidentalis mental changes as the individuals of the com- Cresson (:Formicidae), the west- ponent species die and are replaced. Thus, pat- ernharvester ant, were permanently marked with ternsof population turnoverform an important aluminumtags in August 1977. The ant colonies aspect of communityprocesses. Much less is were checked each August from 1977 to 1991; knownabout species of long-lived individuals than colonydeaths were notedand new colonieswere of short-livedones (Likens, 1989). marked.Death was determinedbased on the fol- Instantaneousobservations of age structurecan lowing information:absence of foragersat times be used to inferlong-term dynamics but not all in whichneighboring colonies were foragingand speciescan be aged retrospectively.Inferring life- poor conditionof the mound. It was verifiedby historydyna