Treatment and Surveillance Areas

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Treatment and Surveillance Areas
Port (Air and Sea) Eastern Area
Wellington Pt
South west
Swanbank
Wacol/Richlands Western Area
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Origins

• Chemical markers
• Hydrocarbons
• Venom Alkaloids
• Genetic markers
• Gp9 (Social forms Gp9BB monogyne, Gp9 Bb
  polygyne)
• Microsatellites
• Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)

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Origins
Microsatellites ( 4 loci, 20 allelles
West
East
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Origins
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Preferred Habitat
43 of fire ant sites found on recently cleared
land (includes a buffer of 25 metres) used for
urban development (7 of treatment area) 93 of
fire ant sites fell within 1 km of this recently
cleared land
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An Estimation of the Mode of Dispersion
Breakdown of known modes of dispersion
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Native Ant Fauna
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Response of Native Ants to Small Fire Ant
NestsIridomyrmex spp and Rhytidoponera metallica
(complex)

• Equal numbers
• Native ants more likely to initiate an attack
• Total fire ant mortality within 15mins

• Equal Biomass
• Fire ants initiated more attacks
• Native ants observed avoiding confrontation
• Fire ants ganging up on native ants

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Interaction
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Monthly Rainfall and Number of Wet Days August
2001 to December 2002 and Average Monthly
Rainfall and Number of Wet Days
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Days of Rain and Times of Flights Observed in the
Field (west)
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Daily Foraging Activity in Summer, Autumn and
Spring
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Summary

• Fire ants (monogynes and polygynes) in south east
  Queensland appear to have originated in the USA.
• The intensity and rate of the infestation may
  have been tempered by the
• drier than usual conditions effecting number of
  flights and possibly the level of foraging and
  food available in the warmer months
• the presence of substantial numbers of polygyne
  colonies
• and the impact of local ant fauna attacking small
  colonies.
• The infestation has been assisted by increase in
  clearing, new residential development and the
  movement of materials.

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Our Thanks To

• Dr Robert Vander Meer
• Dr Ross Crozier
• Dr Jane Hughes
• FACC colleagues, in particular Brenda Gooding,
  Craig Jennings, Evan Harris and Lynne Griffin

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Geographical Distribution of Social Forms and
Haplotypes Within the Treatment Area

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Comparison of Rainfall 1997-2002 with Average
Annual Rainfall (1929-2001)
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Distribution of Samples Analysed Chemically and
Genetically
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Distribution of Social Forms Within the Treatment
Area
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Seasonal Foraging
Healthy nest - not yet treated
Treatment Underway
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Chemical and Genetic Characteristics of Selected
Colonies Within the Treatment Area
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Unrooted maximum likelihood tree of the three
Australian populations of Solenopsis invicta
together with known North American populations
and small samples from North and South America.
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Maximum and Minimum Temperatures (average
1929-2001) and 2002
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Foraging