Impact of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile on the native ants of Santa Cruz Island, California

We examined the impact of the non-indigenous Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr), on the native ants of Santa Cruz Island (SCI), the largest of the California Channel Islands. Linepithema humile, a South American native, was first found on SCI in 1996 and now occupies two areas comprising less than 1% of the island. We surveyed ants using four methods: visual surveys, bait stations, tree surveys, and soil/litter samples. We found a total of 23 ant species, including two species not native to SCI: Cardiocondyla ectopia Snelling and Linepithema humile. Numerous native ants occurred at sites uninfested by L. humile and co-occurred with L. humile at the outer boundaries of L. humile-infested territory, but at sites more than 10 in within L. humile-infested territory, all but two of these species disappeared, probably due to exclusion by L. humile. Only two tiny ant species, Solenopsis molesta Say and Monomorium ergatogyna Wheeler, were found to coexist deep within the L. humile-occupied areas.