Ecologists in New Zealand feared the worst when they first found the Argentine ant — one of the world's most invasive species — in the country in 1990. But their fears were overblown: by 2011, the ants (Linepithema humile, pictured) had disappeared, without any known human intervention, from 40% of the sites sampled by Meghan Cooling and her colleagues at Victoria University of Wellington.
Early this year, the researchers examined 150 sites and compared their findings with records from the time of the ants' first appearance. They calculated that Argentine ant populations had survived for an average of 14 years. At sites where the invasive ants had disappeared, resident ant populations were showing signs of recovery.
Furthermore, a climate-change model predicted that rising temperatures and declining rainfall will boost Argentine ant survival by only a few years — hardly a substantial increase on an ecological timescale.
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The collapse of an invasive ant. Nature 480, 155 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/480155a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/480155a
