Long-term record of Argentine ant invasions reveals enduring ecological impacts

The ecological effects of species introductions can change in magnitude over time, but an understanding of how and why they do so remains incompletely understood. Clarifying this issue requires consideration of how temporal variation in invader traits affects invasion impacts (e.g., through differential effects on the diversity and composition of native species assemblages). We examine the temporal dynamics of Argentine ant invasions in northern California by resurveying 202 sites first sampled 30-40 yr ago. To test how invasion impacts change over time, we estimated native ant richness and species composition at 20 riparian woodland sites that span a 30-yr invasion chronosequence. We then use these data to test how variation in two invader traits (aggression and relative abundance) is related to time since invasion and invasion impact. Native ant assemblages along the chronosequence exhibited reduced native ant richness and altered species composition (compared to uninvaded control sites), but the magnitude of these impacts was independent of time since invasion. These results are corroborated by additional temporal comparisons of native ant assemblages at riparian sites sampled 20-30 yr ago. Our findings together illustrate that the impacts of invasions can persist undiminished over at least a 30-yr time frame and remain evident at regional scales. Although neither invader trait varied with time since invasion, native ant richness declined as the relative abundance of the Argentine ant increased. This latter result supports the hypothesis that factors reducing invader abundance at particular sites can decrease invasion impacts, but also that such changes may be due to site-specific factors (e.g., abiotic conditions) that affect invader abundance rather than time since invasion per se. Future studies should attempt to differentiate factors that are intrinsic to the process of invasion (e.g., changes in invader populations) from long-term environmental changes (e.g., climate change) that represent extrinsic influences on the dynamics of invasion.