A fundamental question of ecology is to understand the importance of direct and indirect interactions on community diversity. Diet-mediated interactions are known to impact foraging behavior and access to food resources for ants. In pine-hardwood forests of Alabama, we explore diet choice of native ants in the presence of fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) with three aims. 1) Identify forested sites with and without S. invicta; 2) Compare diet preferences of native ants in sites with and without S. invicta; and 3) Use stable isotopes to compare relative trophic position of native ants with and without S. invicta. We are still processing collected samples, thus we will only discuss the first two aims here. We used a variety of sampling techniques (pitfall, litter, and baits) to sample the ant communities in 10 pine-hardwood sites across central Alabama. At each site three times during the summer (June, July, August) we collected the following: 20 - 100mL pitfall traps, five 0.25m2 litter samples, and baits. The baits options consisted of a 20% sugar solution, 0.1% salt solution, olive oil, honeydew (1:1 ratio - 20% sugar and 20% amino acid solution), water, and crickets. Preliminary data suggests that ants are deprived of protein resources as cricket baits contained the highest abundance of ants. Future work will include stable isotope analysis to compare diet with and without S. invicta. Upon completion, this project will improve understanding of how a competitively dominant species affects diet to native ant communities.
