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

Abstract

Nonnative, invasive ants, and especially the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, are a widespread threat to ground-nesting wildlife. In this paper I describe a method of controlling fire ants using hot water. The hot water approach was applied to reduce fire ant impacts on sea turtles and ground-nesting songbirds and to demonstrate its utility in protection of different ground-nesting species in different habitats. Fire ant controls using hot water provided 90% or greater control, significantly improving survival of both turtle and bird hatchlings, without the use of pesticides. The success of the method and the availability of necessary equipment shows that hot water control of fire ant populations should be considered as a tool for wildlife affected by fire ants and is useful for a wide variety of scenarios where fire ant controls are desirable or necessary. The method does require that 1) wildlife nest locations are known and that 2) nearby fire ant colonies can be found and treated with hot water. The method can be used as a complement to broadcast or bait-station baiting strategies or as a stand-alone method for managing fire ants.