Ants represent a highly diverse and ecologically important group of insects found in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. A subset of ant species have been widely transported around the globe and invade many natural ecosystems, often out-competing native counterparts and causing varying impacts on recipient ecosystems. Decisions to control non-native ant populations require an understanding of their interactions and related impacts on native communities. We employed stable isotope analysis and metabarcoding techniques to identify potential dietary niche overlap and identify gut contents of 10 ant species found in natural ecosystems in Aotearoa New Zealand. Additionally, we looked at co-occurrence to identify potential competitive interactions among native and non-native ant species. Ants fed mainly across two trophic levels, with high dietary overlap. Relative to other ant species sampled, two non-native ant species, Linepithema humile and Technomyrmex jocosus, were found to feed at the lowest trophic level. The largest isotopic niche overlap was observed between the native Monomorium antarcticum and the invasive Ochetellus glaber, with analyses revealing a negative co-occurrence pattern. Sequence data of ant gut content identified 51 molecular operational taxonomic units, representing 22 orders and 34 families, and primarily consisting of arthropod DNA. Although we generally found high dietary overlap among species, negative occurrence between a dominant, non-native species and a ubiquitous native species indicates that species-specific interactions could be negatively impacting native ecosystems. Our research progresses and informs the currently limited knowledge around establishing protocols for metabarcoding to investigate ant diet and interactions between native and non-native ant species.

中文翻译：

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自然生态系统中非本地和本地蚂蚁物种之间的高膳食生态位重叠

蚂蚁代表了几乎所有陆地生态系统中都发现的高度多样化且具有生态重要性的昆虫群。蚂蚁物种的一个子集已在全球范围内广泛传播并侵入许多自然生态系统，通常在竞争中胜过本地同行，并对接收者生态系统造成不同的影响。控制非本地蚂蚁种群的决定需要了解它们的相互作用和对本地社区的相关影响。我们采用稳定同位素分析和元条形码技术来确定潜在的饮食生态位重叠，并确定新西兰 Aotearoa 自然生态系统中发现的 10 种蚂蚁的肠道内容物。此外，我们研究了共现现象，以确定本地和非本地蚂蚁物种之间潜在的竞争性相互作用。蚂蚁主要以两个营养级为食，饮食重叠度高。相对于采样的其他蚂蚁物种，发现两种非本地蚂蚁物种 Linepithema humile 和 Technomyrmex jocosus 以最低的营养水平为食。在原生 Monomorium antarcticum 和侵入性 Ochetellus glaber 之间观察到最大的同位素生态位重叠，分析显示负共现模式。蚂蚁肠道内容的序列数据确定了 51 个分子操作分类单元，代表 22 个目和 34 个科，主要由节肢动物 DNA 组成。尽管我们普遍发现物种之间的饮食重叠程度很高，但占主导地位的非本地物种和无处不在的本地物种之间的负面发生表明物种特异性相互作用可能会对本地生态系统产生负面影响。