• Sudha Kumari

Abstract: Parthenium hysterophorus is an invasive weed species and potentially major weed in India, indigenous to the Americas. It has spread into 50 tropical and subtropical countries in Asia, Oceania, and Africa. Plant invasion not only changes native plant communities, it also alters associated arthropod community diversity and structure. These impacts often are contradictory and context-specific by study location. In present study, results of the field study revealed that Parthenium plants visited by fifteen genera which belongs to seven arthropod orders. All these play a significant role on P. hysterophorus plants as pollinators (ants and dipteran flies), leaf defoliators (beetles and cricket), sap suckers (hemipteran bugs) and predators (spiders). Among all arthropods, ants were found to be most abundant (about 73% of total arthropods) than other arthropods while among ants, Camponotus compressus were found to be most significant abundance pattern than other ants. Field and laboratory-based experiments revealed that C. compressus worker ants were aggressive towards the spiders but showed neutral behaviour towards the other arthropods while arthropods showed submissive behaviour towards the ants.

Parthenium hysterophorus, arthropod abundance, C. compressus, confrontation experiment

"Abundance pattern and differential behavioural responses of the ant and the coexisting arthropods on plant Parthenium hysterophorus L.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 5, page no.p509-p517, May 2023, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2305G71.pdf

"Abundance pattern and differential behavioural responses of the ant and the coexisting arthropods on plant Parthenium hysterophorus L.", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 5, page no. ppp509-p517, May 2023, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2305G71.pdf