Myrmecol. News 11: 67-77; printable
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.25849/myrmecol.news_011_067
- Open Access: CC BY 4.0
- Year: 2008
- Title: The utility of species distribution models to predict the spread of invasive ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and to anticipate changes in their ranges in the face of global climate change
- Journal: Myrmecological News
- Volume: 11
- Pages: 67-77
- Type of contribution: Review Article
- Supplementary material: No
- Abstract: Species distribution models that predict the geographic ranges of invasive species have received a lot of attention recently. This approach can be very useful for determining the potential for additional spread in invaded areas and foridentifying new regions that may be susceptible to invasion. With the increasing availability of scenarios of future climateconditions, researchers also have a unique opportunity to anticipate changes in the geographic ranges of species that result as a consequence of global warming. However, it remains unclear to what extent distributional models can accuratelyestimate changes in the species' geography under climate change. This uncertainty results, in part, from some limitationsinherent to distribution models. For example, they do not incorporate biotic interactions that can influence a species'distribution, and the abiotic conditions included in the model may not be the only ones necessary for accurately predicting an organism's geographic range. We review studies using both correlative and mechanistic models to assess thedistribution of ant invasions to determine the state of knowledge on the topic, and also identify areas of future researchrequired to understand the present-day and future consequences of global warming on the distribution of invasive ants.
- Key words: Invasive ant species, species distribution models, correlative versus mechanistic approaches, climate change scenarios, review.
- Publisher: The Austrian Society of Entomofaunistics
- ISSN: Print: 1994-4136 - Online: 1997-3500