Ants: Conservation cover art

Ants: Conservation

Ants: Conservation

Listen for free

View show details

About this listen

 Summary: Do ants need conservation efforts? Join Kiersten to find out. For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean Show Notes: “Tales from the Ant World” by Edward O. Wilson “Adventures Among Ants” by Mark W. Moffett “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson Music written and performed by Katherine Camp Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops) Kiersten - Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I’m Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we’ll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating. This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won’t regret it. The final episode of ants has arrived. As my loyal listeners know, this episode is typically about conservation and how we can help the animals or plantsman highlighted in this series, but the question I have about ants is whether they need conservation or do we need to conserve other animals and plants against ants. Let’s find out. The tenth thing I like about ants is conservation. The answer to this question may be both. Within our lifetimes it is thought that some species of ants have gone extinct, but not much research has been done on invertebrate extinction. I cannot say why, maybe it doesn’t happen often, maybe invertebrates that were undiscovered are the one that go extinct, or maybe no scientist has taken the time, or had the funding, to research this topic. One species of ant that was thought to be extinct was Myrmecia apicalis, a bull ant found outside of Australia. The only species of bull ant found outside of Australia. Somehow this species was able to cross an ocean and settle in New Caledonia. You probably noticed that I said it was thought to be extinct. Our ant hero Edward O. Wilson was on a trip with other scientists that happened to find a colony of Myrmecia apicalis on an island proving that it had not gone extinct. It was a joyful discovery but not one without concern. The ants had survived when we thought they had succumbed, but other ants, invasive ants had also come to the island and the excitement at finding Myrmecia apicalis was tempered with the knowledge that the invasive fire ant neighbors might wipe them out. As Edward Wilson said in his book Tales from the Ant World, “The dark fate of this exquisite little species is entirely up to humanity. Myrmecia apicalis can be saved, along with other species still unrecognized, only if the little fire ants are halted and pushed back, and if the woodlands where the New Caledonian bull ant and probably other endangered species yet to be identified live are turned into carefully monitored reserves.” End quote. I could not say it any better. On the other side of conservation efforts are invasive species. An invasive species as defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Interior is an exotic species that is introduced, non-native or alien and is also harmful in some way to the environment or to humans or both. I definitely think fire ants qualify. Solenopsis invicta, more commonly known as The fire ant, is one of the most successful invasive species of all time. Solenopsis invicta was probably introduced into the United States in the 1930s somewhere in Alabama. They establish themselves quickly and new colonies grow quickly. They can create new queens and more colonies within a year. By the 1940s it was well on its way to dominating the entire southern United States and found its way to Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and China. It also spread south onto the islands of the Lesser Antilles. Anywhere fire ants go, destruction follows. They are omnivorous and eat anything and everything that gets in their way. In pineland habitats, imported fire ants attack and consume small mammals and ground nesting birds. In the 1950s the U.S. Department of Agriculture said we must stop this destructive invasive species by any means. They decided to spray pesticides everywhere the ant was found all at one time. That would surely get rid of the problem. But that would also kill every other insect in the vicinity, poison mammals, birds and other vertebrates, pollute water sources, and expose humans to debilitating poisons. If even one fire ant colony survived it was all for not because that colony could start the process all over again within a few years. Thank goodness Rachel Carson and Edward Wilson spoke out against this option and widespread pesticide use was discontinued before more damage could be done. One thing we can thank fire ant for here in the United States is the launching of the new era of environmentalism. A time of more thought and less gut reaction. So how do ...
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.