AgriLife Extension entomologist crosses globe to help tackle fire ant problem

While Australia and Texas are on opposite sides of the globe, they share a few things in common, including a common pest – fire ants. They also share the benefits of expertise from a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service entomologist who wants to help get rid of them.  

Robert Puckett, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension entomologist and associate professor in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Entomology, answered a call to help the Aussies in their national effort to fight this unrelenting invader.

“Our department has been a leader in managing the red imported fire ant and other invasive ants that have caused considerable damage to Texans and their property,” said Phillip Kaufman, Ph.D., head of the Department of Entomology. “Our goal has always been to develop effective methods to eliminate these invasive species. Dr. Puckett is an integral part of these efforts and is known and respected internationally as an expert on fire ants.”

In addition to Puckett’s fire ant education and eradication efforts in Australia, he has been called upon by South Korea and Japan to share his expertise and experience.  

Puckett’s fire ant education efforts in Australia  

As a fire ant expert, Puckett was asked to testify via Zoom before an Australian Senate Inquiry related to ongoing efforts to eradicate fire ants from the Australian state of Queensland. After his testimony, he was invited on behalf of the Australian Environmental Pest Managers Association and the Invasive Species Council of Australia to visit Australia and spend two and a half weeks crisscrossing eastern Australia to share his knowledge of the pesky insect.

“The trip I took to Australia was longer and more extensive because the efforts focused on Australia’s renewed efforts to completely eradicate fire ants,” he said. “These are being concentrated on a large area of eastern Queensland and some of northern New South Wales.”

Puckett kicked off his continental tour with the main plenary presentation “Red imported fire ants: An International Invader,” at the 2024 Pesticon in Gold Coast.

He met with several state and federal members of the Australian Parliament as well as pest managers, insecticide manufacturers, conservation and biosecurity experts, landowners and agriculture industry representatives. He traveled to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, northern New South Wales and Toowoomba. Puckett also gave public presentations on fire ant biology and control.

The fire ant issues in Australia

“Fire ants in pastures are a source population for cities since they have swarming flights and can repopulate in urban areas,” he said. “In the U.S., we generally know how to remove fire ants in yards, playgrounds and parks, etc., but we do not typically treat large acreages of unmanaged habitat for fire ants. We’ve learned how to manage and co-exist with them. But this new eradication effort in Australia is huge, involving hundreds of people and covering a vast amount of acreage.” 

Puckett said an area where he saw Australians could improve their fire ant management practices was the use of broadcast bait treatment.

“I noticed that many Australians with fire ant issues were focused only on treating visible fire ant mounds and were neglecting the young colonies that could not yet be seen,” he said. “I talked to them about incorporating ant bait broadcasting into their treatment plan to destroy young and inconspicuous colonies.”   

Driving fire ants out of Australia

Puckett said Australians were especially attuned to environmental issues. Many were concerned with the use of insecticides, so he also had the opportunity to discuss the objective science behind fire ant treatments and the long-term benefits of promptly addressing the issue.

The Australian Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program selected their treatment strategy with these concerns in mind, Puckett said. The program includes the application of granular baits from aircraft across the outer boundaries of the fire ant infestation area. The plan is for the treatment band to move toward the interior of the fire ant infested area each year until they are eradicated.

Meanwhile, residents living in the interior of the infestation area, where fire ant densities are much greater, can request treatment by the eradication program with professional-grade insecticides. All of the products being used by the Australian eradication program have been used safely for decades to manage fire ants in the U.S.

 “Here in Texas, we have been dealing with fire ants for decades and have learned a number of lessons related to best management practices and what types of treatments are most effective,” he said.

The new Australian fire ant eradication plan

Puckett said he was impressed with the breadth of the new fire ant eradication program in Australia, which will build sizeable surveillance and treatment zones for the pest and provide treatment multiple times per year.

Over the coming years, the plan is to aggressively treat fire ants in the designated area of the continent, moving the treatment zones ever closer to the coastline and toward full eradication.   

The Australians plan to treat and check every property in the eradication area, whether fire ants are visible or not, as any omission or oversight may have a negative impact on nationwide eradication efforts. To ensure they locate and eliminate all fire ant nests, they will start from the outside of the infested area and move inwards, continuing to clear the ants until they are gone. “The Australians have a thoughtful, thorough and extensive plan in place for fire ant eradication on that continent, and I hope that in some way my expertise and work in Australia will be helpful toward making that effort succeed.”