Comparisons between different fire ants control methods in urban environments

Abstract

Many homemade methods are recommended for the control of fi re ants, but the choice of a control method for this ants in the urban environment is necessary in view of the damage they have caused to the environment and human health. Thus, the objective of this work was to compare the effi ciency of chemical (liquid insecticide and granular insecticide) and homemade (hot water and detergent water) methods used to control these ants in urban gardens. The study was conducted in the city of Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil. The treatments were applied only once on Solenopsis saevissima colonies: (T1) Hot water, (T2) Water with detergente, (T3) Liquid insecticide and (T4) Granular inseticide. To determine the amount of applied product in T1, T2 and T3 treatments, colonies were selected by linear size and for treatment T4, colonies were classifi ed by volume. the colonies were monitored monthly for four consecutive months (July to October) to evaluate the effectiveness of the control method employed. The treatments presented distinct performances in fi re ants control in urban area, being the liquid insecticide the most effi cient in eliminating the colonies. With this study we were able to evaluate the impacts caused by each treatment, as well as the pros and cons of using each one of them, and fi nally, we suggest an effi cient fi re ants control method with lower cost per colony and less impact on the environment.

Pesticide‐free management of invasive ants impacting ground‐nesting wildlife populations

“…Hot water drenching has subsequently been used to protect endangered cave fauna by eliminating fire ant colonies at the mouth of caves (Elliot 1993). Hot water drenching has also been tested as a possible control method in urban environments (Fernandes et al 2020), and used in ecological experiments to manipulate fire ant densities (King and Tschinkel 2006, 2008, 2013; Tschinkel and King 2007). In all of the above scenarios, hot water drenching provided comparable control of fire ants to reported control rates with insecticides (baits and/or sprays).…”