Romais, Danielle K.

The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, is native to South America and was
introduced to Alabama in the 1930s. This predatory species rapidly spread throughout the
southeastern US and parts of the West Indies, causing serious ecological and economic impacts.
Solenopsis invicta is known to attack the eggs and hatchlings of ground nesting birds and
reptiles. The ants also swarm into sea turtle nests attacking hatchlings and diminishing their
chance for survival. This study is part of a larger research that aimed to survey the distribution of
ants at a sea turtle nesting beaches in South Florida and St. Croix, USVI. This particular study
was conducted in Boca Raton, Florida. Besides providing a baseline dataset on ant species
distribution in the area, this study also aimed at validating the survey methodology by finding
consistency in the distribution over multiple days surveyed. The results indicate that, although
more detailed surveys would produce more thorough results, we can state that the methodology
is consistent in determining species distribution.

Invasive predaceous ants can cause chaos in their new habitats by competing for resources, increasing or decreasing preys or predators, and even threatening the next generation of offsprings. The red imported fire ant RIFA, Solenopsis invicta is a generalist, omnivorous exotic ant from South America. It has been causing ecological, agricultural, and economical havoc in the USA and other parts of the world. Solenopsis invicta preys on pipped eggs and hatchlings of ground nesting birds and reptiles and they are also found on sea turtle nesting beaches. We hypothesized that there will be a change in the fire ant species distribution at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge SPNWR after the first follow-up survey done in 2010, and at Jack Bay after the baseline study in 2011; both nesting beaches are in St Croix, US Virgin Islands. Baited index cards with tuna were set out for approximately two hours then ants were collected in separate marked bags. They were frozen then preserved in ethanol and finally identified. Solenopsis invicta was the most common exotic species at SPNWR. It was significantly more abundant p0.02 than the other fire ant species, Solenopsis geminata which was more abundant in both the 2010 survey and the baseline survey in 2006 at SPNWR. Neither of the fire ant species was found at Jack Bay. This increase in RIFA can become a serious threat to the next generation of sea turtles if its abundance continues to increase at SPNWR.

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.