3. Discussion 149 technologies and strategies require regulatory and economic investment. Currently, although there are some examples of control programs in the private sector in Taiwan, most of those still rely on governmental support. As is the case in most countries, the size and survival of these governmental programs are easily affected by political or financial circumstances. Therefore, continuously gaining support from the general public is the key to making control programs sustainable. Through long-term exposure and education, concepts such as garbage recycling and disease-prevention have successfully gained much attention from the people. This should be adapted to management of RIFA as well as other invasive species. Fig. 23 The ants raised are sent to fight against RIFA for territory. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture,Taiwan (2023) Standard Operating Procedures for Fire Ant Control Version 10. Retrieved from https://www.aphia. gov.tw/ws.php?id=21803 (in Chinese) (accessed on 20 August 2024) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, Taiwan (2024) Areas with red imported fire ant infestation in Taiwan. Retrieved from https://www.aphia.gov. tw/ws.php?id=21824 (in Chinese) (accessed on 20 August 2024) Angulo, E., Hoffmann, D.B., Ballesteros-Mejia, L., et al. (2022) Economic costs of invasive alien ants worldwide. Biological Invasions, 24: 2041–2060. Ascunce, M.S., Yang, C.C., Oakey, J., et al. (2011) Global invasion invicta. Science, Feb. history of 25;331(6020):1066–1068. Callcott, A.-M.A. (2002) Range expansion of the imported fire ant 1918–2001. In: Diffie S.K. (ed.) Annual Imported Fire Ant Research Conference, Athens, Georgia. Technologies for fire ants control during ants are cleared, making it hard to implement and follow. This may be one common reason for failure of management programs. All RIFA control methods, The worldwide economic losses due to invasive alien ants is difficult to evaluate due to the lack of cost reports (Angulo et al., 2022). In addition, climate change will make species invasions more rampant, more variable and more severe to deal with (Diez et al., 2012), making a hard situation even worse. Policy and decision-makers needed to think ahead and take this into consideration early on and in earnest, especially given that the global economic costs due to invasive species were estimated to surpass US$423 billion in 2019, showing fourfold growth every decade in the past. (Roy, et al., 2023). Acknowledgements We would like to extend our gratitude to Dr. Meng-Tzu Cheng of the National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan, who provided assistance in the studies of the free mobile game. This project was funded by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, Taiwan and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 111-2410-H-018-004-MY2). References farming methods and strategies through a virtual game, while learning to be self-motivated—all of which may raise users’ interest in ants and their awareness of the impact of RIFA. In Taiwan a RIFA-free area is defined as one for which inspections for RIFA have been performed once a month, with no RIFA detected for five consecutive months. The area is then considered free of RIFA. However, if RIFA still exist in areas nearby, large-scale RIFA infestation may occur again due to re-invasion from peripheral zones. As long as routes for re-entry of RIFA, like nuptial flights, or drifting with flood waters are not blocked, there may be a re-invasion in a few years. Therefore, preventing ants from moving, i.e. quarantining them, is the key to stopping RIFA from spreading like a plague. The transmission of RIFA can be divided into two types: natural dispersal and man-made transportation. Natural dispersal includes nest swarming, nuptial flights and drifting with floods. Human transportation includes ants being moved to new locations through sod or tree transplanting, earthwork construction, or intercontinental shipping using containers. Human transportation is the most significant way for RIFA to spread to far distant places, spanning up to hundreds of kilometers or even across oceans to other continents (Ascunce et al., 2011; Menchetti et al., 2023). inspection of commodities, soil and agricultural products from areas with RIFA infestations, spreading chemicals to control ants in areas at risk for RIFA invasion, establishing RIFA-free buffer zones around invaded sites, and constant checking of ant species in RIFA-sensitive areas like drainage channel banks or container yards are ways to prevent RIFA reinvasions. These strategies, however, might have a huge impact on economic activities. There may be many disputes and obstacles to implementation, especially when RIFA iare discovered and all transportation has to be halted until the soil movement Regular the fire ant Solenopsis
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