Citation

Ascunce MS, Yang CC, Oakey J, Calcaterra L, Wu WJ, Shih CJ, Goudet J, Ross KG, Shoemaker D. Science 2011; 331(6020): 1066-1068.

Affiliation

USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, 1600/1700 Southwest 23rd Drive, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, American Association for the Advancement of Science)

DOI

10.1126/science.1198734

PMID

21350177

Abstract

The fire ant Solenopsis invicta is a significant pest that was inadvertently introduced into the southern United States almost a century ago and more recently into California and other regions of the world. An assessment of genetic variation at a diverse set of molecular markers in 2144 fire ant colonies from 75 geographic sites worldwide revealed that at least nine separate introductions of S. invicta have occurred into newly invaded areas and that the main southern U.S. population is probably the source of all but one of these introductions. The sole exception involves a putative serial invasion from the southern United States to California to Taiwan. These results illustrate in stark fashion a severe negative consequence of an increasingly massive and interconnected global trade and travel system.

Language: en