Dynamics of red imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta in Wuchuan, Guangdong
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Key Words：Solenopsis invicta, active mound, worker ant, volume of mound, dynamics
Abstract：The population dynamics of red imported fire ant （Solenopsis invicta Buren）had been studied in Wuchang, Guangdong, for more than one year. The results showed that two peaks of the mound density were found from June to August and from October to December, respectively, and a large number of newly mound were found from April to July and from October to November, respectively. The highest number of mound disappeared on September. With bait traps, the workers of red imported fire ant worked actively from April to November, in which two peaks were found from May to June and from October to December, respectively. However, with pitfalls, only one peak of active workers was found on July. The correlation between the numbers of workers estimated by these two methods was greatly significantly (0.88). The correlation coefficients between air temperature, temperature of earth surface, temperature in 5cm soil and the numbers of workers estimated by these two methods were 0.88, 0.88, and 0.86 for bait traps, and 0.93, 0.94 and 0.95 for pitfalls, respectively. The increment of mound volume was higher from April to June and from September to December, especially on June.