Red
Imported Fire Ant
Source: http://www.desertmuseum.org/invaders/invaders_fireant.php
"Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis Invicta)." Red Imported Fire Ant. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. <http://www.desertmuseum.org/invaders/invaders_fireant.php>.
Summary: The red fire ants are foreign species,
brought to America by infested cargo from South America. These aggressive
species were originally delivered to Mobile, Alabama, but they didn’t stop
there. The ants were spread to many other southern states by humans and by
drifting in flood water. The ants aren’t just annoying, they are dangerous.
These ants sting five million people each year and 25,000 are hospitalized.
Environmentally speaking, the ants attack young deer, cattle, and ground
resting birds. They also affect natural plant ecosystems because they kill many
bees, causing fewer plants to get pollinated. They also take food and other
resources from native, noninvasive species of ants. Invasive species can be
destructive to ecosystems and these imported red fire ants are hurting humans,
animals and plants.
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| This is a picture of the red fire ants that are so dangerous to organism's health |
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| This is a picture of what the stings look like because people need to be aware of this so if they get stung then they can take care of it. |
Opinion/ Reflection: I think that people should be
more careful about bringing species to the United States because they can be
hurtful to our environment. Also the invasive species are really hard to get
rid of without killing the native species. I don’t know how to stop these
species from happening or to stop them once they get here.
Questions:
1. What
do you think is the best way to get rid of the red fire ants?
2. Have
you ever seen a fire ant, if so did you know if they were dangerous?
3. What
do you think you should do if you see an attack by the ant happening on another
animal?
I thought this was a really good article to choose because it pertains to the U.S. The article I found last night was for one in Australia because I didn't see any for the U.S. This pertains to us in general because even though this map ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fireantmap.PNG ) shows there isn't any red ants in PA, it is where many of us have lived, traveled to or plan to travel to.
ReplyDeleteAs for question three, personally I think if saw an ant attack on another animal, my first instinctive would be to grab a hose and hose down the animal but I saw on the article that the ants are less dense then water and basically build a raft and float so I'm not sure if that would work. So I might look up a number and call a animal control in hopes they could get there fast enough and have some way to help the animal.
I really liked this article and i thought it was very interesting. I have heard about these ants but i got to actually learn about them and what they do through this article. Also like Lindsay i like that it was in the US.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: I feel like the best way to get rid of the red fire ants would be to develop a special pesticide that would take out the fire ants but not affect any other animals, plants, or insects.
I agree with Emily concerning that it is extremely difficult to get rid of foreign species. One way to get rid of them is to bring in an organism that eats them; though this would cause even more alterations to this ecosystem. Although I never saw a red fire ant but just the sound of it sound dangerous. Some questions I had after this article were as follows:
ReplyDeleteWhat eats red fire ants?
How would the introduction of that organism affect the ecosystem?
What precautions can humans take to prevent something like this from happening again.
Foreign species very rarely are beneficial and therefor humans need to be more careful and try to prevent this from happening.
In response to question 1, the best way to get rid of red fire ants involves a few steps. First you have to locate the area in which the ants are congregating, and make sure you're careful because fire ants are aggressive. Then you should use an environmentally friendly product for killing the ants. Another way to get rid of the ants, would be to drop grits on the ground. The ants will eat the grits, which will expand their stomachs, causing them to burst or explode.
ReplyDelete