Examination of organic fire ant treatments to control red imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta

The red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), is an invasive species that is a threat to native biodiversity in its non-native range (Wojcik et al., 2001). They directly and indirectly impact humans, our activities, our crops, our economy, the infested ecosystem and the environment. There has been considerable effort put forth to eradicate the species or prevent their spread into uninfected areas. Many of the current treatments involve dangerous chemicals and non-specific pesticides that have environmental impacts beyond the immediate removal of the colony, but the ants have numerous environmental impacts if left untreated.; During the summer of 2003, I conducted a study in Bandera County, Texas to compare the effectiveness of four available organic fire ant treatments to a chemical pesticide treatment and a control group. The five treatments worked significantly better than the control treatment for four of the five time intervals, and three of the four organic treatments worked as well or better than the synthetic pesticide. The initial mound size appeared to have little effect on the outcome of the treatments. As the invasive red imported fire ant spreads to countries outside of the United States, the potential impact on global biodiversity increases considerably (Morrison et al., 2004). It is imperative to discover means to reduce their impact without further degrading the environment in the process.