The Social and Behavioral Underpinnings of Ant Invasiveness: A Review of Recent Advances

Non-native ants represent a significant invasive species, impacting both natural ecosystems and human systems globally, and their success is often attributed to a flexible suite of social and behavioral traits. This review highlights recent literature studying these traits as they relate to invasive ant species. A major factor in ant invasiveness is their colony structure, with many highly invasive ants having a supercolonial structure with no clear colony boundaries across vast territories. Other major attributes of invasive ants are a strong association with humans, an ability to thrive in urban environments, and varied and flexible foraging behaviors. Taken together, these studies underscore the diversity of behavioral and colony characteristics of invasive ants that lead to their many impacts in their invasive range.