Latest news with #biologicalcontrol
ABC News
21-07-2025
- Science
- ABC News
Fight against fire ants at tipping point
As fire ants continue their relentless march across south-east Queensland, a biological control expert from the United States warns Australia's eradication plan is under threat.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Warning over 'intractable problem' as Australia's fire ant fight faces critical moment
A biological researcher in the United States has warned Australia is at a critical crossroads in its fight to tackle the spread — and hopefully eradicate — the hugely destructive fire ant species. Native to South America, they have well and truly spread north, invading more than a dozen US states and costing the country's economy billions of dollars a year. They've caused havoc on golf courses, private properties and even led to reported deaths in Florida and Texas from severe allergic reactions. A report in USA Today last month even detailed how two species of the invasive ant are crossbreeding, creating an even nastier and hardier bug. It's a bleak picture Australia is desperately hoping to avoid. Mark Hoddle, an entomologist and biological control specialist, has spent years studying fire ants at the University of California. He warns Australia must urgently act to stop them from becoming a permanent fixture of the landscape. "Some entomologists have referred to this perpetual insecticidal war and management plan against fire ants in the US as the Vietnam of entomology. It just seems like an intractable problem," he told ABC radio on Friday. At least in the United States, where they have been for about a century, the prospect of eradication is probably futile, he warned. "It will probably never be winnable with the technology we are currently using," he said. Related: Five colonies of yellow crazy ants detected in Queensland holiday spot According to experts in Australia at the Invasive Species Council (ISC) and the National Fire Ant Eradication Program, if left unchecked the so-called super pest could make itself at home across 97 per cent of the continent, given our climate's suitability to the species. Ultimately, they could do more damage than cane toads, camels, foxes and feral pigs combined. After recent discoveries of fire ants in Queensland, including on one Scenic Rim property where they were found "chewing" on a lawn mower, authorities are urging residents to be vigilant and take precautions. "Fire ants are great stowaways, and they love to get into organic material in particular," Reece Pianta from the ISC told Yahoo News this week. "Empty out the catcher of your mower," he urged. "Don't leave the clippings in there, and clean it down. It's also good advice to clean things that are being moved from place to place." Agricultural minister spruiks nation's biosecurity efforts The federal government is set to contribute some $296 million over the next four years to help fight the fire ant invader, with more money tipped in by the states. Julie Collins, the federal Minister for Agriculture, on Friday hit back at her Coalition counterpart who on Thursday said the federal government wasn't doing enough to stop the spread. "What I would say is that Australia has been quite successful in terms of trying to contain the red imported fire ants compared to how other countries are dealing with it. We have managed to contain the spread of it compared to other countries," he said. In particular, she highlighted the federal government's collaboration with the states as well as efforts to engage the community to raise awareness about the threat, saying biosecurity "is everyone's responsibility". "Part of the program has been the public awareness campaign and making sure that people understand what they are," she said. The federal government is coming under increased pressure to make public the National Fire Ant response plan for 2023 to 2027, which is currently a 'cabinet in confidence' document. The minister would not be drawn on whether it would be made public. "What I'd say is the significant new funding that we have provided to date has allowed the program to expand its reach," she said. "It's put on 350 new workers. There's a new depot, there's new vehicles, new aerial eradication contracts. There's baiting going on. It's doubled the size of the treatment and surveillance area in terms of the existing outbreaks in Australia. We are taking this incredibly seriously."
Gizmodo
03-07-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
U.S. to Dump Billions of Flies From Planes to Fight ‘Man-Eater' Maggots
The U.S. The Department of Agriculture has declared war on a flesh-eating maggot that infests wildlife, livestock, household pets, and, in rare cases, people. The battle strategy? Dumping billions of sterilized flies out of planes over Mexico and Texas. Using this tried-and-true biological control technique, the USDA aims to stamp out the larvae of the New World screwworm (NWS) fly, a tropical parasite. This invasive pest's scientific name is Cochliomyia hominivorax, which literally means 'man-eater.' The flies target warm-blooded animals, laying eggs near open wounds and mucous membranes, according to the Texas Farm Bureau. When the eggs hatch, the maggots burrow deep into the host's living tissue, eating it as they grow and causing painful, potentially deadly wounds. If the NWS fly spreads throughout the U.S., it could decimate the livestock industry, kill wild animals in droves, and pose a significant risk to pet and human health. 'A thousand-pound bovine can be dead from this in two weeks,' Michael Bailey, president-elect of the American Veterinary Medicine Association, told the Associated Press. To eliminate this pest, USDA scientists are breeding adult male NWS flies and sterilizing them with radiation before releasing them from aircraft. When these flies mate with females, the eggs they produce won't hatch, thus reducing the number of maggots and causing the population to die out over time. This approach is more environmentally friendly than pesticides, and while it may sound counterintuitive, it has worked in the past. 'The United States has defeated NWS before and we will do it again,' USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said. From 1962 to 1974, the U.S. and Mexico released more than 94 billion sterile flies to eradicate the pest, according to the USDA. By 2000, the pest was contained below Panama thanks to a sterile fly facility there, though small outbreaks continued to occur in the U.S. occasionally, like the one that struck the Florida Keys in 2017. 'It's an exceptionally good technology,' Edwin Burgess, an assistant professor at the University of Florida who studies parasites in livestock, told the Associated Press. 'It's an all-time great in terms of translating science to solve some kind of large problem.' Over the past several years, NWS fly populations south of the U.S. have expanded northward, according to the American Farm Bureau. Recent detections in Mexico as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz—just 700 miles (1,127 kilometers) from the southern border—prompted U.S. officials to suspend cattle, horse, and bison imports through the border on May 11. On June 18, Rollins announced the development of an $8.5 million sterile NWS fly dispersal facility alongside an aggressive plan to prevent this pest from re-entering the U.S. The fly factory, located at Moore Air Base in south Texas, should be complete by the end of the year. It could boost domestic sterile fly production by up to 300 million flies per week, complementing current facilities already operating in Panama and Mexico. The USDA has also invested $21 million toward renovating an existing fly factory in Metapa, Mexico, which will provide an additional 60 to 100 million sterile NWS flies per week to stop the spread. On top of Panama's production, this will release at least 160 million flies in Mexico and Panama per week, the USDA states. The first weeks of this NWS fly attack strategy have already shown results. Since officials closed southern ports to livestock in May, the USDA has dispersed more than 100 million sterile NWS flies per week in Mexico, according to a statement released Monday, June 30. The agency said it has not seen a notable increase in parasitic NWS infections in Mexico or any northward movement of this pest over the past eight weeks. Based on these findings, the USDA has decided to gradually reopen select southern border ports to livestock trade beginning July 7. These are good signs that officials are regaining control of this pest. As the planet continues to warm, however, more invasive insects and parasites will creep northward from the tropics, threatening U.S. agriculture, biodiversity, and public health. As such, sterile fly breeding and distribution programs may become increasingly necessary. Burgess argues that officials should keep fly factories open even after they have neutralized the threat of NWS. 'Something we think we have complete control over—and we have declared a triumph and victory over—can always rear its ugly head again,' he said.
Malay Mail
20-05-2025
- Science
- Malay Mail
Barn owls vs rodenticide: Why scientists want you to ditch poison and trust this local bird instead for sustainable farming
GEORGE TOWN, May 21 — The Barn Owl and Rodent Research Group (Borg) of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) is pushing for a reduction in rodenticide use in plantations and fields to prevent secondary poisoning of other non-target species such as birds, fish, and reptiles. Associate Professor Hasber Salim, who leads Borg, said some oil palm plantations and paddy farmers are using highly toxic second-generation rodenticides, which pose a threat to the natural predators of rodents, which includes the Asian barn owl. 'We are trying to encourage the conservation of barn owls as they can be implemented as biological control agents of rodents in oil palm plantations and paddy fields,' he said in an interview with Malay Mail. An adult barn owl has a voracious appetite and can consume up to three rodents per night. However, Hasber said secondary poisoning from ingesting rodents that have consumed second-generation rodenticides is one of the biggest threats to these owls. 'We have worked with various oil palm plantations and farms nationwide to introduce artificial nest boxes to attract barn owls to these places and to reduce the rodent population and reliance on rodenticides,' he said. He added that corporations often refuse to stop using rodenticide, so Borg is hoping to push them to switch back to first generation rodenticides that are less toxic to the owls. To note, first-generation rodenticides often require multiple feedings over several days to kill a rodent, whereas a second-generation dose is likely to kill in one feeding. 'Even after introducing barn owls to reduce the rodent population, we know they would not stop using rodenticide entirely so a compromise is to encourage them to use the less toxic rodenticides,' he said. An installation of nest boxes at a paddy field by the Barn Owl and Rodent Research Group. — Pictures courtesy of Borg Trials and setbacks in owl conservation Borg, established in 2014, has been studying barn owls and rodents in the past decade and has implemented multiple projects introducing the owls in various situations. This included a project to introduce barn owls into urban settings to reduce rodent populations, specifically in Subang Jaya and around the USM campus. 'I would not say the project in Subang Jaya was a failure but we discovered that the bright moving lights of vehicles affected the sight of the owls' sensitive eyes,' he said. Furthermore, whenever people spotted the owls in the city, they chased after them and used flash photography that further frightened the owls, he added. 'Somehow, people get excited when they see the owls,' he said. As for the project around USM grounds, Hasber said 20 artificial nest boxes were installed around the area, but only a small number of barn owls were attracted to live in them. 'We do not have a large population of barn owls here because of insufficient food for them,' he said. In oil palm plantations and farms, the artificial nest boxes that Borg installs are often made of wood and placed on a stilt that is about 12 to 14 feet high. 'It has to be high enough so that people could not reach it and not too high that it could tip over when there is strong winds,' Hasber said. At its aviary in USM, Borg has studied owlets that were rescued from nests where the mother owl was unable to feed all of its nestlings. This allowed the group to learn about the growth, the habits and the diets of the owls up close before releasing the bird back into the wild. 'We let them learn to hunt rodents within the aviary and once we are confident that they can survive in the wild, we will release them in the paddy fields,' he said. He said sometimes, people would find injured owls and bring them back to Borg to be rehabilitated and released once again. Though Borg sometimes brings young barn owls out for exhibitions as part of educational campaigns to push for their conservation, he said the team is careful not to tame the owls. 'We do not want them to be tame because we plan to release them to the wild so that they can survive in the wild on their own,' he said. Samples preserved in jars and display boxes for research at USM's Borg. — Picture by Opalyn Mok Establishing barn owls in East Malaysia The Asian barn owls are native to West Malaysia, but there used to be none in East Malaysia, so Borg conducted several projects to introduce the species there. It took a few attempts, but they finally managed to translocate eight pairs of barn owls to Sabah about 10 years ago. Hasber said translocating owlets from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah does not work, as they would return due to a strong homing instinct. 'They are very smart creatures, so even if you bring them to another country, they will find their way back here,' he said. So Borg devised a plan to bring eight pairs of owls to Sabah and breed them there, so that the owlets born in the location will consider it their home. 'It was successful as the owls, including the original eight pairs, continued to stay there and now, there are thousands of barn owls there,' he said. Moving forward, he said Borg will continue to work with plantations and paddy farms to install more nest boxes to encourage the use of these natural pest-control instead of relying on rodenticides. 'Barn owls are the best method in sustainable farming that does not poison the environment or kill non-targeted species in the farms,' he said.
