“And because acacia trees are important food for many species, including rhinos and giraffes, these landscape-level changes could pretty drastically change the ecology of the area. “What that means is that if the invasion continues, more and more acacia trees will be lost,” he said. While the researchers say lion populations currently appear to be stable – apparently a consequence of lions switching from primarily killing zebras to hunting buffalo – Palmer said one concern was that there was no way to stop the spread of the big-headed ants. “Because lions need cover to successfully stalk and ambush their prey they are more exposed when there are fewer trees to hunker down behind, which seems to make it harder for them to successfully take down the zebra,” said Palmer. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. For more information see our Privacy Policy. But the analysis ruled out a link to zebra density, or lion activity, suggesting the drop in kills is likely because the lions are more visible to their prey skip past newsletter promotionĮnter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. The team found zebra kills were almost three times more likely in low-visibility areas where big-headed ants were absent, than in high-visibility areas were the big-headed ants were present. The researchers then built a computer model based on observations in the wild to explore whether big-headed ant presence and increased visibility affected zebra movements, zebra kill sites and the movements of lions. The team found that when big-headed ants and elephants were present there was a drop in tree cover and a dramatic increase in visibility. To unpick the wider ecological impacts Palmer and colleagues first studied a number of plots in Laikipia, Kenya, some where elephants were present, some where they were excluded. It’s your fault Blame I need to look at my part in. Labeling I have succeeded at many things. Fortune-telling I am sad now, but I will be happy soon. “In invaded areas, elephants browse and break trees at five to seven times the rate of that in uninvaded areas,” Palmer and colleagues write in the journal Science. ANT (write out the automatic negative thought) Species (identify the type of negative thought) Kill the ANT (talk back to the irrational thoughts) I will never be happy again. But big-headed ants – an invasive ant species that can take over whistling-thorn trees by killing adult acacia ants and eating their eggs and larvae – offer no such protection. “But it’s the interactions which are the glue that holds the entire system together.”Īcacia ants protect whistling-thorn trees by biting and stinging elephants looking for a snack. “We often talk about conservation in the context of species,” he said. Palmer said the discovery highlighted the importance of interactions between species. The fewer kills appear to be due to the upending of a crucial relationship – between native ants and the trees in which they live, causing a loss of cover for lions. Prof Todd Palmer of the University of Florida, a co-author of the research, said the findings were a surprise.
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