Effects of Fipronil on Non-target Ants and Other Invertebrates in a Program for Eradication of the Argentine Ant, Linepithema humile

Abstract

Pesticides are frequently used to eradicate invasive ant species, but pose ecological harm. Previous studies assessed non-target effects only in terms of the increase or decrease of abundance or species richness after pesticide applications. Positive effects of the release from pressure caused by invasive ant species have not been considered so far. To more accurately assess pesticide effects in the field, the non-target effects of pesticides should be considered separately from the positive effects of such releases. Here, we used monitoring data of ants and other invertebrates collected in a program for the eradication of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr), using fipronil. First, we separately assessed the effects of L. humile abundance and fipronil exposure on non-target ants and other invertebrates using generalized linear models. The abundance of L. humile and the number of pesticide treatments were negatively associated with the total number of non-target individuals and taxonomic richness. We also noted negative relationships between the number of individuals of some ant species and other invertebrate taxonomic groups. The L. humile × pesticide interaction was significant, suggesting that the abundance of L. humile affected the level of impact of pesticide treatment on non-target fauna. Second, we evaluated the dynamics of non-target ant communities for 3 years using principal response curve analyses. Non-target ant communities treated with fipronil continuously for 3 years recovered little, whereas those treated for 1 year recovered to the level of the untreated and non-invaded environment.

Pollutants and Their Interaction with Diseases of Social Hymenoptera

“…Since pollutants may reach the human consumer via these bee products, they may be used for biomonitoring of the environment, and most importantly, may mediate detrimental effects upon offspring, resulting in colony-level detrimental effects. In contrast to social bees, ants and wasps are often regarded as targets of insecticides, e.g., in the eradication programs of invasive species [108][109][110]; however, native ant and wasp species may also suffer from such eradication programs as non-target organisms [111,112]. Abundant evidence exists from laboratory studies, but also field studies, that pesticides have detrimental health effects on social bees at levels encountered in the environment (see [113,114] for excellent overviews on the impacts of systemic insecticides on social insects and organisms in general).…”

Eradication and Control Strategies for Red Imported Fire Ants (Solenopsis invicta) in Taiwan

“…Our review of the most recent literature reveals new trends for RIFA eradication planning (Table 1). Recent studies focused on the identification of invasive ants [25], the prediction of the spread and its prevention [26][27][28][29][30][31], social economic impacts [32], environmental impacts [33][34][35][36], treatment and control [9,13,14,[37][38][39][40][41][42], and genetic and biological identification methods [7,18,20,43], as well as technology adoption, such as digital data collection [22], aerial surveillance [15], and GIS measurements [16,17].…”

Invasive ants reduce abundance of small rainforest skinks

“…Invasive ant populations are often treated with insecticidal baits. Baits are typically not specific to the target ant species and may kill other ants and invertebrates (Hoffmann et al 2016;McNaught et al 2014;Plentovich et al 2010;Sakamoto et al 2019;Schlappi et al 2021). Exposure to non-target taxa may be reduced with the use of containerized baits or other methods of decreasing attraction or access to baits (Buczkowski 2017;Choe et al 2010), but these are not always effective or practical for large scale use.…”

“…However, bait dominance is increasingly unlikely as invasive ant abundance declines with successive bait applications, particularly if populations are treated until eradication. Therefore, more bait may be available for consumption by non-target organisms, such as native ants or other invertebrates (Sakamoto et al 2019). Bait that diminishes or poisons populations of non-target invertebrates may also indirectly harm predators that feed on them (Peveling et al 2003).…”