The tropical fire ant, Solenopsis geminata is a New World species with a wide native
range including South America as well as several Caribbean islands. The red imported
fire ant, Solenopsis invicta is native to parts of South America. Both species are known
for preying on sea turtles’ eggs and hatchlings. The objectives of this thesis research
were to conduct follow-up and baseline ant species distribution surveys on four sea turtle
nesting beaches in St. Croix, U. S. Virgin Islands. Tuna baits were set out at beaches;
specimens were collected, frozen, preserved then identified. Results show that there was
a significant change in the fire ants’ distribution at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge
(SPNWR) while none were found at Jack Bay. Fire ants were also present on the other
two baseline surveyed nesting beaches. The displacement of S. geminata by S. invicta
was observed at SPNWR, which also was presumed by previous surveys. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_13565 |
| Contributors | Balkaran, Kavita (author), Wetterer, James K. (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 53 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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