Fire Ant Research Paper

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In the early twentieth century the high plains of American Agriculture witnessed the boom of wheat prices, land runs, and expansions of railways; they also experienced the bust of the Great Depression, Black Tuesday, and the decade long Dust Bowl. Yet, during those highs and lows, the people known as “Okies” had no clue that importation of goods to the Gulf was introducing the fire that was coming from below. To stop the environmental impact of the Dust Bowl, agricultural practices had to change. To stop the Red Imported Fire Ant, we also have to change our practices.
Originally, from the lowland areas of South America, the Red Imported Fire Ant was accidently introduced into the United States in the 1930’s. The fire ants spread over one hundred miles a year in the 1940’s and 1950’s infesting all southern states east of Oklahoma and Texas, and south of Virginia and Tennessee. The red fire ants are now moving …show more content…

Single-queen colonies have only one egg-laying queen, and may contain as many as 250,000 workers. Multiple-queen colonies usually have somewhere between twenty to sixty egg laying queens and nearly 500,000 workers. Single-queen colonies fight with other fire ant colonies. Because of the Red Imported Fire Ant Queen, workers demonstrate antagonistic behavior and colonies are farther apart, which results in a maximum of 150 mounds per acre. Multiple-queen colonies generally do not fight with other multiple-queen colonies. Consequently, mounds are closer together, and can reach densities of eight hundred mounds per acre. The large colony sizes and the presence of numerous queens make multiple-queen colonies more difficult to eliminate than single-queen colonies. Also, instead of taking winged breeding flights, multiple-queen colonies can establish new colonies by budding, where a portion of the queens and workers split off from a

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