Dealing with the Little Fire Ant at Ramat Hanadiv: Mapping, Treatment and Monitoring

Similarly, the abundance and richness of the other arthropods living in the gardens was significantly lower in areas highly infected by the fire ant compared to areas with low infection or no ants at all.

After examining different alternatives for dealing with the fire ant and its harmful impact, we decided to spray with pesticide. To examine the effectiveness of the pesticide and whether it causes undesirable harm to other arthropods in the gardens, we conducted a series of samplings at different periods of time – on the spraying date and during the months that followed. After two years and seven rounds of spraying, the fire ant population shrank significantly, but was not completely eradicated. In parallel, we monitored the recovery of the ground-dwelling arthropod community (using special traps) in the gardens, as well as the bees and the butterflies. We found that the pesticide did not cause any harm to the arthropod community.

Due to the broad distribution of the ant in the gardens and the complex nature of the landscape, and since there is no sufficiently effective pesticide in Israel, it seems that it will not be possible to completely eradicate the ant from Ramat Hanadiv. Therefore, it is important to continuously monitor the gardens, as well as the seedlings and gardening materials that come in from outside, and inform professionals and the wider community about this issue. In this way we will be able to keep the population under control, prevent extreme increases in nest density and prevent the spread of the ant into the natural areas surrounding the gardens.