Posts Tagged: ants
Ants Come Marching In - UC IPM Citrus Update
UC IPM supports research and extension programs in integrated pest management (IPM). UC Agriculture and Natural Resources scientists adapt research for practical application, and Cooperative Extension advisors and specialists develop and deliver IPM programs to a variety of clientele, including professional pest managers, growers, residents, and agencies. UC IPM staff work with UC ANR scientists to develop "how-to" materials that help the clientele carry out programs and solve pest problems.
To complement the extension programs, UC IPM staff members coordinate development of a variety of materials that explain how to carry out pest management tactics and strategies. Working with UC ANR experts, program staff produce and maintain an extensive array of print and Web-based publications, databases, training materials, and interactive tools for decision making.
Examples are the pest management guidelines and a home and landscape database of pest solutions for residential audiences, IPM manuals for specific crops, books about IPM in landscapes and gardens, a variety of books on pesticide safety, and an extensive weather database that supports interactive pest models.
And now they are happy to announce the publication of a new update to the Citrus PMG. The Year-Round Program has been updated, Ants, Asian Citrus Psyllid, and Huanglongbing
And to learn more about Ant control in citrus, cherimoya and passion fruit, look into the upcoming workshops, September 19 and 21:
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=57442
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=57622
argentine ant and hydrogels
Ants and the Pests They Support Workshop
Are you interested in learning about the management of sap-sucking pests and ants in citrus orchards? Lindcove is organizing a full-day workshop to bring you recent research advances on sap-sucking insects and ant management. The workshop will focus on ants.
Ants, especially the invasive Argentine ant and the native grey field ant, are serious pests because they protect sap-sucking pests infesting citrus, grapes, and other perennial tree and vine crops, from their natural enemies. In return for protection, hemipteran pests like Asian citrus psyllid mealybugs, soft scales, aphids, and whiteflies reward ants with honeydew, a sticky sugar-rich waste product that ants imbibe and return to nests to feed nest mates. This is an example of food-for-protection mutualism that is highly disruptive to biological control and IPM programs. This workshop will cover the latest developments in ant monitoring and management and will provide overviews of the benefits of ant control and how reductions in ant densities result in very high levels of biological control of important hemipteran pests.
When: 19 September 2023
Where: Conference room, Lindcove Research and Extension Center, 22963 Carson Ave, Exeter, CA 93221
Meeting Registration Link: https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=41086
Workshop Agenda:
Time |
Presenter |
Topic |
8:30am |
|
Registration |
9:00am |
Mark Hoddle, UC Riverside |
Overview of the Asian citrus psyllid biological control program and the need to control pest ants |
9:30am |
Mark Hoddle, UC Riverside |
Use of biodegradable hydrogel beads and bait stations for controlling pest ants in citrus |
10:00am |
Mike Lewis, UC Riverside |
Infrared sensors and the Internet of Things to automate ant counts in orchards |
10:30am |
|
Coffee Break |
10:45am |
David Haviland, UCCE Farm Advisor, Kern County |
Ant management research and applications in the San Joaquin Valley |
11:15am |
Soon Il Kwon, UC Riverside |
Cultural control of ants in orchards |
11:45am |
Nicola Irvin, UC Riverside |
Flowering cover crops to promote natural enemy ecosystem services |
12:15pm |
|
Lunch |
1:00pm |
Sandipa Gautam, UCCE Area Citrus IPM Advisor |
Hemipteran pests and their management in SJV citrus |
1:30pm |
All presenters |
Table visits and posters to observe technologies that were discussed and to interact with presenters and ask questions |
2:00pm |
David Haviland/Hoddle Lab |
Field demonstration of hydrogel applications for ant control |
3:00m |
|
Workshop Ends |
argentine ant and hydrogels
The End of ACP and Argentine Ant?
Argentine Ant is the great protector of many pests found on plants. Without the Argentine, many pests would not be so much of a problem. In many crops, like cherimoya and passionfruit, mealy bug can become so severe that fruit will stop growing and fall off the tree. Controlling Argentine, makes it possible for predators and parasites to do their thing in bringing them under control. Watch these two videos to see how hoverflies (syrphids) can help biocontrol and how Argentine Ant control can help that biocontrol
Citrus Psyllids Bribe Ants With Strings Of Candy Poop | Deep Look - YouTube
How Hoverflies Spawn Maggots that Sweeten Your Oranges | Deep Look - YouTube
Cherimoya fruit and stems covered with mealy bug.
cherimoya mealy bug
Starving Argentine Ants
It might seem like common sense that a starving animal is more likely to take dangerous risks to obtain food than one with a full belly. But new research from UCLA shows that groups of Argentine ants, who forage boldly when they're well fed, exercise far more caution when they've been deprived of carbohydrates and the risks from competitors are high.
This counterintuitive foraging strategy might contribute to the success of these insects, known as Linepithema humile, an invasive species that displaces native ant populations in California and elsewhere and has become a significant agricultural pest, the researchers said.
Their findings, published in the journal Current Zoology, suggest that the unwillingness of Argentine ants to expose themselves to danger when weakened by hunger could possibly give them a competitive edge over other species by helping to preserve their colonies' foraging capabilities.
“While not foraging may lead to a reduction in food stores when those stores are already low, foraging in a high-risk environment exposes the colony to potential loss of foragers,” said the study's senior author, Noa Pinter-Wollman, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. “So reduced foraging could be interpreted as individual foragers not taking unnecessary risks.”
To support the energetic requirements of daily life, all ants require carbohydrates, which they obtain from a variety of plant and animal sources. They also need protein, which they generally get from dead animals, to nourish their larval offspring. Ant colonies adjust their foraging strategies according to the availability of these food sources, the presence of competing ant species, and the threat of predators or other dangers. Well-fed ants will forage for carbohydrates even in the presence of other ant species or danger cues.
First author Bryce Barbee, who conducted the research as a UCLA undergraduate, expected that starving Argentine ants of either carbohydrates or protein would only increase their willingness to forage for those foods in high-risk environments because they had little to lose and everything to gain.
Together with Pinter-Wollman, Barbee designed a series of laboratory experiments that involved feeding ants normally, depriving them of either carbohydrates or protein, and depriving them of both, then allowing them to forage as they normally would in either low-risk or high-risk environments.
The researchers created the impression of high-risk environments with formic acid, a chemical marker produced by ants, to signal the presence of competitors.
When the risk was low, starving ants did indeed forage more vigorously for the food of which they had been deprived. But when the risk was high, starving ants surprised the researchers by becoming more cautious, not less, in their foraging strategies.
In both high- and low-risk foraging scenarios, the ants were more willing to forage for carbohydrates than protein, which they only need to raise their brood. Since no eggs or pupae were present in the laboratory colonies, this finding might not be surprising, but it could also indicate that starving ants put their own energetic needs ahead of raising offspring, the researchers said.
Scientists who study animal behavior have advanced two ideas to explain foraging strategies. The first, known as the asset-protection principle, holds that hungry animals have less to lose than satiated animals and will therefore behave more assertively to get food. The second, the state-dependent safety hypothesis, holds that animals in good condition are more likely to take risks because they are more likely to survive dangers they encounter.
“Our work upheld the state-dependent safety hypothesis but not the asset-protection principle,” said Barbee, now a doctoral student at UC Santa Barbara. “The findings suggest that factors such as activity level and energetic costs of starvation are important for Argentine ant foraging decisions.”
The work points toward an avenue of research that could lead to better efforts to control the spread of Argentine ants and mitigate their detrimental impact on agriculture, the researchers said.
https://academic.oup.com/cz/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cz/zoac089/6825390
Ant species across five subfamilies exchange milk-like substances. Jasius via Getty Images
ants feeding
Ants OnLine
You wanted to see where all those ants are coming from? Well here is the site to see what ants are where with their descriptions and images.
The ant fauna of California comprises 8 subfamilies, 44 genera and approximately 300 species (of which 30 are introduced). About 25% of the native species are endemic to the state or to the California Floristic Province (including northern Baja California and southern Oregon).
https://www.antweb.org/adm1.do?name=California&country=United+States
Prominent California ants include seed-harvesting species in the genera Veromessor, Pheidole and Pogonomyrmex; honeypot ants in the genus Myrmecocystus; a diverse array of species in the genera Camponotus ("carpenter ants") and Formica; native fire ants (Solenopsis spp.); velvety tree ants (Liometopum spp.); and the introduced Argentine ant (Linepithema humile). This last named species is particularly common in urban and suburban parts of California, where it establishes dense populations and eliminates most native species of ants.
This web site provides color images and identification information for most of the species of ants known to occur in California. For identification of pest ants you may find it useful to consult the key to common household ants of California developed by the UC Statewide IPM Program.
Specimens: 15,612
Images: 655
Imaged Specimens: 981
Subfamilies: 8
Genera: 44
Species/Subspecies: 305
Valid Species/Subspecies: 266
Endemic: 26
Introduced: 23
Show All Specimens
https://www.antweb.org/about.do
AND WAIT, THERE"S MORE - ALEX WILD'S SITE HAS EVEN MORE WONDERFUL IMAGES AND HISTORIES OF ANTS
https://www.alexanderwild.com/Ants
Plus a menagerie of other Insect images - https://www.alexanderwild.com/Insects/Portfolio/
Check it out
And if you want to get down with the Argentine Ant. Don't forget the Workshop next week
Argentine Ant Workshop and Registration
David Haviland says the best Ant Costume wins free admission. Actually it's free to all who register for the meetings.
argentine ant and scale