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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 1/16/2001 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Urban pest ant control has become a high priority for the pest control industry. Pest ant problems have significantly impacted pest control operators by causing return visits to clients, thus reducing profits. To gauge where we are now and where we are going in pest ant control, it is useful to know where we have been. A chronology of the efforts to control the imported fire ant is provided as a guide for ant control tactics being developed today and in the future. Control tactics for imported fire ants have progressed from treating individual nests with contact insecticides, to broadcast applications of contact insecticides, to the broadcast application of ant baits. Ant control in the pest control industry followed a relatively similar pattern, where there was reliance on applying contact insecticides after the development of DDT and related insecticides, which was then followed by the development of ant baits. With the increased interest in pest ants and their control, there is more potential for the development of new control strategies that account for the different biologies of individual pest ant species. Such strategies include eliminating food resources and biological controls. Pest ant research seems to be gaining more interest as indicated by recent increases in scientific presentations and increases in funding for imported fire ant control. |
