In a study on biological invasions, researchers analyzed more than 4,000 border interceptions of ants at air and maritime ports in the United States and New Zealand over a period of nearly 100 years, and found that more than 75% of the invasive species originated from countries where the species had already been introduced, highlighting a mode in which the initial introduction of an invasive species and its subsequent establishment in other areas might drive the global spread of invasive species, according to the authors.
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Article #18-01990: "Recurrent bridgehead effects accelerate global alien ant spread," by Cleo Bertelsmeier et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Cleo Bertelsmeier, University of Lausanne, SWITZERLAND; tel: +41-216924165, +41-78 9323013; e-mail: < cleo.bertelsmeier@unil.ch >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences