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Content with tag biological interactions .

Argentine ants harm nestlings of the blue tit

The consequences of ant invasions on ecosystems may only become apparent after long periods. In addition, predicting how sensitive native fauna will respond is only possible if the underlying proximate mechanisms of their impact are identified. The attraction of the native and invasive ant community to artificial bird nests was studied, together with reproduction of a wild native songbird over five consecutive breeding seasons in relation to the presence of an invasive ant species. Biometric,...

The alien boatman T verticalis is able to breed successfully in freshwaters

The corixid Trichocorixa verticalis originates from North America and is the only
aquatic hemipteran alien to Europe. It is spreading in south-west Iberia where it is
the dominant corixid in permanent, saline wetlands, where it may have excluded
halotolerant native corixid species. In the Doñana wetland complex in south-west
Spain, it is abundant in temporary brackish ponds but almost absent from
temporary fresh ponds where the native Sigara lateralis is the dominant...

Competition between honeybees y wild pollinators

During the past decades, managed honeybee stocks have increased globally. Managed honeybees are particularly used within mass-flowering crops and often spill over to adjacent natural habitats after crop blooming. This study uniquely shows the simultaneous impact that honeybee spillover has on wild plant and animal communities in flower-rich woodlands via changes in plant–pollinator network structure that translate into a direct negative effect on the reproductive success of a dominant...

Interactions between mosquitofish and native newts

Invasive fish have a high disruptive potential in aquatic ecosystems, in which amphibians may be highly impacted due to intense competition and/or predation on their eggs and larvae. Most studies have focused on the effect of large invasive fishes such as salmonids, whereas the effect of smaller fish on amphibians has been seldom investigated. The effects of the invasive Eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) on pygmy newts (Triturus pygmaeus), a species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula,...