Invasive ants are a bigger threat than we thought
More than 500 ant species have been found in places where they shouldn’t be—wreaking havoc on local ecosystems. How do we stop them?
In Brisbane, Australia in 2001, a telecommunications worker was sent to the hospital for an insect sting that was burning severely. The red fire ant, native to South America and notorious both for its venom, aggression, and ability to exact agricultural damage had arrived, raising alarms. Fighting its invasion was, scientists later wrote, “a war we can’t afford to lose.”
“Alien” ants outside their native range, such as the red fire ant, are inadvertently transported around the world by cargo and goods. Humans try to stop them; the warnings at airport border securities to not bring plants or soil into a country are there, in part, to prevent such transit.
But the invaders are widespread. Argentine fire ants have constructed
