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Can predators maintain parapatry? Ant distribution across a tick parapatric boundary in South Australia
Author(s) -
CHILTON NEIL B.,
BULL C. MICHAEL
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
australian journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 0307-692X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1996.tb00627.x
Subject(s) - parapatric speciation , transect , tick , ecology , predation , biology , acari , geography , gene flow , biochemistry , gene , genetic variation
Ants were sampled by pitfall traps at 85 sites, 0.5 or 1.0km apart, along six transects across a parapatric boundary between the reptile ticks Aponomma hydrosauri and Amblyomma limbatum near Mt Mary in South Australia. There was no tendency for overall ant density, or for the distribution of any single species of ant, to be related to the tick distribution. Thus the survey found no support for the hypothesis that predation by ants was maintaining the boundary. Along transects there were no correlations between ant and tick densities. Thus the survey found no support for the hypothesis that ant predation was a major factor controlling tick densities. These negative results provide further evidence that single, strong ecological processes cannot explain this well‐studied parapatric boundary.