Assessment of Mound Soils Bacterial Community of the Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta across Guangdong Province of China

Bamisope Steve Bamisile (), Lei Nie, Junaid Ali Siddiqui, Luis Carlos Ramos Aguila, Komivi Senyo Akutse, Chunsheng Jia and Yijuan Xu ()
Additional contact information
Bamisope Steve Bamisile: Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Lei Nie: Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China
Junaid Ali Siddiqui: College of Agriculture, College of Tobacco Science, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China
Luis Carlos Ramos Aguila: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China
Komivi Senyo Akutse: International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, Nairobi P.O. Box 30772-00100, Kenya
Chunsheng Jia: Henry Fok School of Biology and Agriculture, Shaoguan University, Shaoguan 512005, China
Yijuan Xu: Department of Entomology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: Soil microbes have a wide range of distribution across the world and can be found in different agricultural and forest systems including cultivated soils, ant mounds, decaying trees, leaves, roots, and on insect bodies. Across five counties of Guangdong province of China, the assemblage of bacterial associates of red imported fire ant (RIFA) were examined. The locations were selected based on evidence of high presence of RIFA mounds in these regions. Samples were analyzed from mound soils, plant debris within mounds, and the ant body. The current study analyzed bacterial species composition and richness patterns, where 525 isolates were recovered in total, comprising 44 bacterial taxa. Taxa abundance was highest in the ant body at 35 taxa, while the values were relatively similar across soil substrate and plant debris, where 3 and 6 taxa, respectively, were recorded. The highest bacterial taxa recovery rate was recorded in Guangzhou, where a total of 17 taxa were isolated. Myroides odoratimimus was the most common across all substrates and locations among the bacterial taxa. Others with the highest isolation frequencies includes, Enterobacter cloacae , Vagococcus fluvialis , and Myroides odoratus . The understanding of the bacterial community composition of RIFA is crucial for the development of successful management techniques for these notorious social ants. In order to expand on the findings of the current study, it is imperative to understand if the associated microbial communities of the RIFA form a parasitic, antagonistic, or mutualistic relationship with their host. In this vein, further studies would examine the influence of the characterized bacterial associates of the RIFA on the social behavior, physiology, and the host response to foreign pathogens.

Keywords: cuticular symbionts; environmental protection; microbial communities; phylogenetic analysis; soil nutrition and fertility; soil organisms (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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