Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Plan

Fire Ant Trails:

News from the Texas Imported Fire Ant Research & Management Plan

  April 1999 Vol. II No. 5

Table of Contents

Agriculture Code
Phorid Flies - Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
Spring Fling
New Publication 1783
Fire Ant Plan Fact Sheets on our Web Site
Fire ants work in teams without bosses; could humans?

Agriculture Code

CHAPTER 77. FIRE ANT CONTROL

The subchapters below were downloaded from the website:

http://gpo.lib.purdue.edu/bin/GPOAccess.cgi?db=cfr&type=TEXT&size=75699&id=3=317320%2075699%20/disk2/wais/data/1999_cfr_7v5/7v5.sub.wais;7=%00;

This legislation enables Texas county commissioners courts to obtain approval of fire ant suppression program plans from Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA). The Code also describes the role the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station (TAES) plays in the Texas Fire Ant Project. The Texas Department of Agriculture web site address is http://www.agr.state.tx.us.

SUBCHAPTER A. ERADICATION PROGRAM

Sec. 77.001. Commissioners Court may Establish Program. The commissioners court of any county may establish, implement, and conduct a program for the eradication or control of the imported fire ant.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1207, ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981. Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 628, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.

Sec. 77.002. Coordination With Other Programs. The program established under this chapter may be conducted independently of or in conjunction with any related program conducted and financed by private or other public entities.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1207, ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981. Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 628, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.

Sec. 77.003. Cost of Program. The commissioners court may expend any available county funds to pay for all or its share of the cost of a program established under this chapter, including funds derived from taxation under the 80-cent limitation of Article VIII, Section 9, of the Texas Constitution.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1207, ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981. Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 628, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.

Sec. 77.004. Approval of Program by Department. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this section or by Section 77.005 of this code, the commissioners court shall obtain written approval by the department of the method of eradication to be used in any program established under this chapter. This approval must be obtained before the program is implemented. (b) If the department does not grant approval of a method of eradication or propose an alternative method before the 61st day following the day on which the proposed method is submitted to the department, the commissioners court may proceed to expend county funds for implementation of the program using the method submitted to the department.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1207, ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981. Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 628, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.

Sec. 77.005. Federally Funded and Approved Programs. Approval by the department under Section 77.004 of this code is not required in connection with any program that is financed totally or partially by federal funds and that is approved by the appropriate federal agencies.

Acts 1981, 67th Leg., p. 1207, ch. 388, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1981. Amended by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 628, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987.

 

SUBCHAPTER B. BASIC RESEARCH PROGRAM

Sec. 77.022. Fire Ant Basic Research Program. (a) The Fire Ant Research and Management Account Advisory Committee established under Section 88.215, Education Code, in the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station shall oversee a program to finance broadly based ant research that the advisory committee determines to be of the highest scientific merit and offers the greatest promise in providing new directions for long-term solutions to fire ant infestations. (b) An award under the program described by Subsection (a) of this section shall be granted for a two-year period for individual or group projects, and may be extended after review by the advisory committee at the end of that period. (c) The Texas Agricultural Experiment Station may accept gifts and grants from the federal government, state government, and private sources, as well as legislative appropriations. The use of gifts and grants other than legislative appropriations is subject, after their appropriation, only to limitations contained in the gift or grant. (d) Except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section, awards under the program may be made from any gift, grant, or appropriation received. (e) The Texas Agricultural Experiment Station shall make an annual accounting of all money received, awarded, and expended during the year to the legislative committees responsible for agricultural issues. (f) The Texas Agricultural Experiment Station may adopt rules necessary for the implementation and administration of the award program. (g) Repealed by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., 1st C.S., ch. 17, Sec. 7.01(15), eff. Nov. 12, 1991.

Added by Acts 1987, 70th Leg., ch. 628, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1987. Amended by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., 1st C.S., ch. 17, Sec. 7.01(15), eff. Nov. 12, 1991. Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 218, Sec. 2, eff. May 23, 1995

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Phorid Flies - Answers to Frequently Asked Questions - Larry Gilbert, Director, Brackenridge Field Laboratory The University of Texas at Austin (from http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gilbert/research/fireants/faq.html)

Q. Why don't you just release the phorid flies now?

A. Actually phorid flies are being released in selected experimental sites (i.e., Austin, Laredo, Elgin), the ant populations of which were assessed before release so that comparisons can be made post-release. Currently, there are too few phorids being bred in research laboratories to provide enough for mass releases in more than a few carefully-selected areas. But even if there were enough phorids to "go around," only one species, "Pseudacteon tricuspis" is currently available in substantial numbers. Further research is required to assess the most effective methods for breeding and releasing up to 15 additional phorid species, some of which could be more effective than the ones now available.

Q. Now that phorid flies are being released, when will they eradicate fire ants?

A. Unfortunately the answer is never. Imported fire ants are now permanent residents in the U.S. Eradication is possible on a temporary local scale, but not at a regional level. However, we can hope for eradication of the pest status of the ant, assuming that we can find and successfully introduce effective biological control agents. Even assuming the best results with phorids, it could take years to reverse seven decades of spread and growth of red imported fire ant populations. Although we expect phorids to be detrimental to populations of the exotic fire ant species, don't overreact to the media hype about phorids and expect an overnight solution.

Q. My property is available for this project. Why don't you release phorid flies on my back yard, farm, ranch?

A. In addition to those considerations, this experimental release/research phase is limited by availability of flies and researchers. Our laboratory's procedure is to conduct initial release experiments in areas where extensive previous baseline data on the ant fauna and its boundary with imported fire ants has been studied.

(Note: check out http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9902/18/t_t/fire.ants/).

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"Spring Fling" News releases
Seven articles were distributed in March by Edith Chenault, Agricultural Communications, for use by Extension county agents to get the word out about springtime fire ant management: "Start Winning the War on Fire Ants," "Information for Managing Fire Ants Available on the Web," "What Kind of Ant is This?" "Fire Ants: Getting 'Two Steps' Ahead," "Protect Pets From Fire Ants," "Taking the Bite Out of Fire Ant Stings," and "Know Your Fire Ant Baits from Your Granules and Drenches." Copies of these articles are available upon request.

New Publication

Available at web site, http://fireant.tamu.edu:

Fire Ant Plan Fact Sheets (FAPFS)

Fact sheets under development:

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Fire ants work in teams without bosses; could humans? (From the Wall Street Journal, March 9, 1999)

Abhijit Deshmukh, an assistant professor of industrial engineering at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and a colleague at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, are studying how colonies of the ants, named for their painful sting, work efficiently in small teams without visible leadership. There may be lessons for humans, like letting shop teams react to immediate needs rather than relying on managers' schedules, Mr. Deshmukh says.

How much managers ought to control worker teams is an issue, employers, complaining about the National Labor Relations Board rulings that most teams at nonunion firms amount to illegal company-dominated labor "unions," want legislation to overrule NLRB policy. Meantime , Michale MacIntosh, CEO of Fuel RTM Inc., Santa Clara, Calif., marketing-services firm, keeps "a fairly intensive dose of management involvement" with the four-person teams that serve Fuel's clients.

Ants are "hard-wired" to do only a few tasks instinctively, says Toby Fitch, owner of Fitch Associates, a Foster City, Calif., team-building adviser. Humans "can do almost anything, most of it helpful," he says.

Prepared by: Bastiaan "Bart" M. Drees
Director, Texas Imported Fire Ant Project
Department of Entomology
412 Minnie Belle Heep Bldg.
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas 77843-2475
979.845.5878  •  FAX: 979.845.7029
b-drees@tamu.edu
http://fireant.tamu.edu
The information given herein is for educational purposes only. Reference to commercial products or trade names is made with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by the Texas Agricultural Extension Service or the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station is implied.

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