Check out this new paper led by long-term FERG collaborator Max Tercel, which Jordan contributed to:
Invasive species are among the greatest threats to biodiversity in the 21st century, and ants are among the most ecologically damaging. In this study, using molecular dietary analysis, the trophic networks on Round Island, Mauritius (a hotspot of endemism and the last remaining remnant of a native lowland palm forest in the Mascarenes) were reconstructed, focusing on several invasive ant species, the native Telfair’s skink and the native Serpent Island centipede. Food resources were partitioned between these consumers, and predation between them was variable. The consumption of non-native ants by skinks and centipedes demonstrates how these ants have formed an important part of this island system, not only as consumers, but also as resources. The results indicate that these non-native ants are unlikely to be overtly competitively disadvantaging the native consumers, but do form an important component of such ecological systems.
This study is part of a wider ongoing project led by Max through his PhD, and more outputs are to follow soon (stay tuned!), alongside other exciting projects for which we’re collaborating with Max.
Foraging Ecology Research Group 
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