6. Future Outlook 175 that technologies target to Invasive ants in the United States impacts, this as successfully reduced & Silverman, 2011). This contrasts with the rapid, trail-mediated recruitment strategies of other pest ants like S. invicta or L. humile, limiting the effectiveness of baits designed for pheromone-reliant species and contributing to outdated management recommendations and frequent control failures. Moreover, B. chinensis thrives in both urban and intact forested habitats. In forested areas, management efforts must balance control measures with conservation concerns and potential non-target effects of toxic baits (Buczkowski, 2023). Given these challenges, an alternative, biology-compatible management strategy is urgently needed to effectively manage B. chinensis while minimizing environmental impact. 5.3 Trojan Horse Strategy: Insecticide-Treated 5.4 Box Trapping Termite Bait Traditional toxic baits, while effective, often attract raising non-target organisms such as native ants, ecological concerns. The Trojan horse method addresses this issue by mimicking the natural prey preferences of the target ant species, enhancing bait specificity and minimizing unintended impacts. This “Trojan horse” prey-baiting strategy has been applied to manage B. chinensis as this ant is a termite specialist (Bednar & Silverman, 2011). In this method, termites coated with insecticide-treated sand are used as baits. Foraging B. chinensis carry the toxicants back to their colonies, facilitating horizontal transfer through contact or termite consumption approach effectively suppresses B. chinensis populations while minimizing non-target species outcompetes others for termite prey (Buczkowski, 2016, 2017). A recent study adopted a similar approach integrating termite cuticular extracts with traditional granular baits and showed enhanced attractiveness and efficacy of the bait, conveniently eliminating the need for using live termites as bait (Buczkowski, 2023). These prey-baiting methods highlight the potential for reduced insecticide use and lower non-target effects through improved bait specificity and acceptance. (Buczkowski, 2016). The Many invasive ant species are highly susceptible to desiccation, driving their attraction to humid, enclosed microhabitats. This biological trait has been leveraged to develop trapping methods that exploit moist environments to either attract colonies to move in (followed by physical colony removal) or deliver non-repellent insecticides. Such methods have local populations of invasive ants such as the Argentine ant (Suiter et al., 2021). Building on this approach, Ivanov and Yang (2024) proposed a trapping box system for managing B. chinensis, targeting two key behavioral traits: (1) its strong preference for high-humidity, enclosed spaces due to vulnerability to desiccation (Bertelsmeier et al., 2013), and (2) its seasonal colony dynamics, characterized by aggregation in late fall and dispersal into satellite nests by early spring (Gotoh & Ito 2008). A field campaign deploying this trapping box system has been initiated in Virginia and North Carolina (Hartle et al., 2024). Although data collection is ongoing, preliminary results indicate the system has effectively captured multiple functional colonies of B. chinensis (200 colonies comprising more than 60,000 workers and 156 queens) during the colony dispersal season. These findings highlight the potential of the trapping box system as a viable management tool for this invasive ant. As baiting remains the primary control strategy for invasive ants in the United States, further research is essential for idenitying factors that enhance or undermine such as its effectiveness. Synergistic approaches, integrating baiting with complementary control methods, have shown significant promise. Equally important, however, are potential antagonistic factors, such as viral infections in ants, which have been largely overlooked. Studies have demonstrated that viral infections in S. invicta can markedly reduce foraging activity, thereby limiting bait intake and impairing colony suppression (Fig. 2). These viruses, though widespread and typically asymptomatic, may provide infected colonies with an adaptive advantage by decreasing their exposure to toxic baits over uninfected ones. Understanding the role of pathogens and their effects on ant foraging biology will be critical integrated pest management strategies against invasive ants. Given the widespread distribution of the three invasive ants across large-scale treatment seems inevitable. However, most treatments are predominantly not specific to the target, triggering the are need target-specific yet deployable at large-scale. One such effort is the development of Receptor-i technology that delivers bioactive peptides specifically pheromone biosynthesis activating neuropeptide receptor in fire ants (Choi & Vander Meer, 2021; Chinta et al., 2023). Another innovative finding is that incorporating venom alkaloids into vegetable oil discourages the feeding of native ants that compete with fire ants for the bait while maintaining S. invicta bait consumption. Therefore, adding fire ant venom alkaloids in vegetable oil can be used to enhance the specificity of current bait products (Casas, 2024). for new Traditionally, control methods have been modeled on the red imported fire ant and the Argentine ant, the two most studied and economically significant invasive ants. While these methods have proven effective for their target species, they are not universally applicable, particularly when dealing with ants that exhibit unique ecological and behavioral traits. Drawing from the gaps in B. chinensis for enhancing the United States, treatment
元のページ ../index.html#81