Problems caused by Fire Ants
Few species are more destructive than those that have been introduced by humans to areas instead of developing alongside the other species in the region, and there is no better example in the United States than that of the fire ant. There are a couple of different species of fire ant that have been imported to the country as well as a couple that occur naturally, and the imported species are rapidly increasing in number.
In addition to their ability to breed and adapt quickly, and the fact that they are incredibly tough insects, the fire ant probably packs more of a punch as a problem pest than any other insect. They may not yet have the population numbers or range of the common house fly, but where they occur they cause a number of different problems which run the gamut from the physical to the economical and even the ecological. Let’s take a look at the different problems that fire ants cause.
Environmental degradation
As an introduced species, fire ants have found the vegetation and even some animal species in North America very easy prey. There is nothing on the continent that has developed a natural repellent for these aggressive insects over time, and therefore fire ants can take advantage of literally any food source that meets with their approval.
These food sources range from human cultivated crops such as fruit, vegetable and grain right to other species of insect. Fire ants are very aggressive against other insects, and will attack and wipe out colonies of other insects that are a critical part of the natural ecosystem, including bees, yellow jackets, and other types of ants.
Fire ants can also be damaging to human raised livestock. They can cause great irritation to herd animals like sheep, cows, and horses; these animals often seek to alleviate the itch and burn that accompanies a fire ant bite that they create great holes in their flesh, leaving them open to a wide variety of air borne illnesses.
Equipment hazards
Fire ants have a powerful bite, and that means they can cause a lot of damage to expensive equipment. They can chew their way through irrigation lines and fuel line in the search for food. In addition, they leave behind large amounts of sand and other fine minerals which can create grist within machinery and damage it internally.
Moreover, fire ant mounds pose a threat to machinery. Hitting a fire ant mount during the harvest may mean expensive repairs, plus additional costs in terms of down time.
Personal hazards
The defining characteristic of fire ants is definitely the painful wound they inflict during an attack. Not only will they bite, but they will also sting much like bees or yellow jackets, inserting a small amount of toxin into the flesh of their victims. As with bees, fire ant bites may be fatal when they occur in large amounts. They may also be fatal to individuals who are allergic to the toxin that the ants deposit. At the very least, fire ant bites prove to be incredibly irritating and often painful for a few days after an attack.
For the most part, most of the species that we consider pests have at least a couple of good points to their characters, in the way of waste management and even control of other pests. Not so with the fire ant; they are a serious threat, having developed outside of the rest of the naturally occurring species in the United States. In addition, these insects are spreading very quickly, so integrated management of their numbers which minimizes the threat to other species and to humans is more important than ever before.