Meeting Abstract
Invasive species can act as prey, sometimes having detrimental effects on native predators that consume them. Some native species can avoid eating noxious invasive prey. In some cases, these invaders are similar to palatable native species. If exposure to noxious invasive prey alters native predator consumption of similar native prey, this could alter diets of native predators and have important ecological consequences. The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta acts as an invasive prey source within the southern range of the eastern fence lizard, Sceloporus undulatus. Juvenile fence lizard diets are comprised largely of ants, but eating fire ants can prove lethal, however, lizards can quickly learn to avoid eating them. We tested whether prior exposure to (and subsequent avoidance of) invasive fire ants will reduce the subsequent consumption of a palatable native ant species. We allowed juvenile lizards to eat either invasive fire ants or palatable native ants for 5 days (training period) and then tested their subsequent consumption of the native ant over the next 5 days. We found that lizards that ate fire ants during their training period were less likely to subsequently consume palatable native ants. These results suggest that eating invasive prey can lead native species to avoid similar palatable native species which, in cases like our where this may form the basis of their diet, could have important effects that may cascade throughout the ecosystem.
