Dear worker ants,

Clyde went to set out pb chopsticks this afternoon at the house that is two
away from the Morigaki residence. Sure enough, the Japanese garden that
makes up the front yard was infested with Wasmannia. We don't have
permission to survey the gravel yard in between the two yet. The owner of
the Japanese garden house also mentioned that the former nursery owner
(same one I mentioned earlier) had built three houses down the street in
this new subdivision so he may have put in infested plants there as well.
Hopefully this subdivision is aas new a it looks so the ants haven't gone
far. It makes me wonder where else he supplied plants to. I have talked
to him before and he dosen't volunteer a lot of information about that
subject. It may be partly because he had no reason to remember the places.
Looks like we will be Waiakea Heights for a while.

Pat Conant

Dear fellow worker ants,

Thanks to good investigative work by detectives D. Gruner aand Katie
Morigaki, I have confimed a new infestation of Wasmannia in Waiakea Heights
subdivision.
Clyde Hirayama and I put out peanut butter chopsticks around the perimeter
of the property on 12/14/00 and in all the landscaped areas. We found
Wasmannia only in the front yard, between the driveway and the neighboring
property. This area is all centipede grass aand is about 5m x 6m. The
adjacent yard on the Hamakua side is all gravel but needs to be checked.
Mrs. Morigaki told me she got a palm (that was planted in that area) from
the former owner of wwhat I know to be the oldest known infestation (a
nursery in Panaewa that has changed hands many times since). We believe we
are close to eradicating the ant on that property.
Unfortunately she had given a palm to a neighbor two houses away (same
Hamakua side) so we plan to check that property soon. We hope to apply
amdro asap on any infestations we find in Waiakea Heights. I neglected to
ask her how long ago she got the palm so I will need to do that.

Pat Conant

----- Forwarded by Pete Oboyski/BRD/CONT/USGS/DOI on 12/15/00 08:59 AM

Please post this announcement.

Thank you,
Corrie Saux

ANT COURSE 2001
Website: http://www.calacademy.org/research/entomology/Ant_Course/

COURSE OBJECTIVES.--THE ANT COURSE is designed primarily for
systematists, ecologists, behaviorists, conservation biologists, and other biologists
whose research responsibilities require a greater understanding of ant
taxonomy. It emphasizes the classification and identification of more
than fifty ant genera of North America. Lectures will include background
information on the ecology, life histories and evolution of ants. Field
trips are structured to teach collecting and sampling techniques and
associated lab work provides instruction on specimen preparation,
sorting and labeling. Information on equipment/supply vendors, literature, and
people resources is also presented.

COURSE SIGNIFICANCE.-- This course will provide students with 1) the
confidence and ability to identify the major ant genera of North America; 2)
an understanding of modern specimen processing and curation techniques;
3) an appreciation for the biological diversity of ants, and 4) experience
keying to the species level.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION.--THE ANT COURSE will be taught from August 5
15, 2001 at the Southwestern Research Station in Portal Arizona. The
Station is centered amid the richest ant fauna in North America. This will be an
ongoing course, offered annually or every other year.

PARTICIPANT ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA.--THE ANT COURSE is open to all
interested individuals. Priority will be given to those biologists for whom the
course will have a significant impact on their research. An entomological
background is not required. We aim to include students with a diverse
interest in biology, including ant systematics, ecology, behavioral biology
and conservation. The high instructor to student ratio will allow students
to receive individual attention. THE ANT COURSE, presented in English,
is limited to 20 participants

INSTRUCTORS
Brian Fisher (Coordinator), Dept. of Entomology, California Academy of
Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA 94118-4599, Tel:
415-750-7240, bfisher@calacademy.org

Stefan Cover (Coordinator), Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA 02138, Tel: 617 496 5614,
cover@oeb.harvard.edu

Gary Alpert, University Entomologist, Harvard University - EH&S
Department, 46 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Mark Deyrup Archbold Biological Station, P.O. Box 2057, Lake Placid,
Florida 33862

Bob Johnson, Dept. of Biology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona,
85287-1501

Jack Longino, Lab I, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA,
360-867-6511

Bill McKay, Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Texas, El Paso,
TX 79968

Roy Snelling, Section of Entomology, Natural History Museum of, Los
Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90007

Mike Kaspari, Dept. of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, Norman OK
73019-0235

Phil Ward, Department of Entomology, University of California, One
Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616

Special Guests
Barry Bolton, Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum (not
confirmed)
Bert H=F6lldobler, Zoologisches Institut, Universit=E4t W=FCrzburg (not
confirmed)
Jeanette Wheeler, Tuscon, AZ (not confirmed)
Edward O. Wilson, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University

FEES.
Tuition for the 10-day COURSE is $250 for current graduate students and
$400 for non-students to be paid by all participants on being informed of
their acceptance. Tuition covers partial overhead costs of the workshop. In
addition, Southwestern Research Station (SWRS) fees for this period,
covering dormitory room and board, are $360, payable to SWRS personnel
on departure. Transportation costs between home and Tucson (air) or SWRS
(auto) are to be borne by all participants or their home institutions.

HOW TO APPLY
For application forms and additional information, please visit the web
site:

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: MARCH 1, 2001
_____________________________________
APPLICATION FOR THE ANT COURSE
Southwestern Research Station (SWRS), Portal, AZ August 5-15, 2001

Name: Sex: Male Female (circle)

Professional address:

Position: Highest university degree, year granted:

Phone number: E-mail address:

Name, address, phone number of nearest relative:

Reason(s) for wishing to take course:

The COURSE is limited to 20 participants. Selection of participants
will be
carried out by committee and based on your reasons for wishing to take
the
course at this time. Because the COURSE is planned to be offered yearly
or
biennially, persons not selected for this session are urged to apply
again.

PLEASE SEND THIS APPLICATION WITH A SELF-ADDRESSED ENVELOPE TO:

THE ANT COURSE
Dept. of Entomology
California Academy of Sciences
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118-4599

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: MARCH 1, 2001

You will be advised of receipt of the application by the self-addressed
postcard and will be notified of your acceptance to the Course by APRIL
15, 2001

______________________________
Brian Fisher
Assistant Curator
Dept. of Entomology
California Academy of Sciences
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118
tel: 415 750-7240
FAX: 415 750 7228
bfisher@calacademy.org
http://www.calacademy.org/research/entomology/Ant_Course/

For those of you at the meeting, please read through my notes for additions
- deletions - or other comments.
For those who could not attend, here is what was discussed.

Hawaii Ant Group meeting ? 12 December 2000

Attendants:
Pat Conant (HDOA)
Paul Banko (USGS-BRD)
Ellen VanGelder (USGS-BRD / UH)
Dan Gruner (UH)
Frank Howarth ( Bishop Museum)
Lloyd Loope (USGS-BRD)
Neil Reimer (HDOA)
Pete Oboyski (USGS-BRD / UH)

+ Wasmannia: K-12 program (Dan Gruner)
Dan provided a map of areas sampled for ants by school kids. Included was
a table indicating how often species were in encountered. The mapped area
is limited to Hilo pending the results from Keaau and Pahoa schools. Some
highlights include: 21 species were collected; 1 new Wasmannia location was
found; 1 new Solenopsis species, not known from Hawaii, was encountered;
and another undetermined genus of ant was discovered. Dan commented on the
amount of time required to sort and identify the thousands of ants
collected. He hopes future efforts will have the kids be more active in the
early rounds of sorting specimens. He hopes the curriculum he develops can
be handed to teachers and carried on after he is finished with the project.
Some discussion ensued as to how the program would be carried on in Dan's
absence ? It may be difficult to find more students to pick it up and
expand it to other islands, and it is clear that some sort of taxonomic
expertise is necessary for the teachers to consult with.

On a similar note, Ellen passed around copies of some study materials
("Finding the Little Fire Ant") developed by Michelle Archy of the
Harbinger Institute to be used with school groups. The materials include
background on LFA, instructions to conduct surveys, identification keys
that filter out other ant species, and a self quiz. All are encouraged to
review the materials and provide comments (via Ellen). It is hoped that
the materials will be employed this coming spring.

+ Hawaii Island Journal article (Dan Gruner)
Dan approached the Hawaii Island Journal (formerly Kau Landing) about
publishing an article regarding his efforts with school kids (as discussed
above). The article was written by Jude Todd (staff writer) for the
December 1-15, 2000 addition of the paper. Dan received 8 calls as a
result of the article.

+ Volcano Watch article (Dan Gruner, Pete Oboyski)
Volcano Watch is an article written by USGS scientists and published in the
Hilo Herald-Tribune newspaper, as well as being distributed electronically
to other sites. Once per month articles are written by biologists at USGS.
Pete solicited Dan to write a review of Wasmannia and encourage people to
report locations they believe Wasmannia to exist. Pat Conant agreed to
field calls regarding possible Wasmannia infestations provided the article
clearly states how to distinguish the ants (so that he does not get flooded
with calls on every ant found). Dan seeks feedback and comments on the
article. The article will either appear in a February addition of Volcano
Watch or in a new series to be produced by a joint effort of USGS-BRD and
Forest Service.

+ Wasmannia Update (Pat Conant)
There has not been much recent activity on the Wasmannia battle line. Pat
discover a method of using blowers to disperse Amdro against LFA. This
method appears good for penetrating areas of uluhe and other tough-to-reach
reach places, besides being a time saver. With the few trials he has been
able to attempt, Pat does not feel that Extinguish is nearly as effective
as Amdro (the ants seem to pass by without notice of the bait). Papaya and
Lychee growers have not been treated lately because they do not want to
take their crops out of harvest for one year. Pat will soon have the help
of 4 workers from PPC ? chemical/mechanical control now that they are
finishing their banana bunchytop work. Pat feels that some of the smaller
infestations have been eradicated (no ants detected in 3 successive
surveys), but that larger areas tend be cases of containment. A big
frustration is areas he cannot treat, therefore border control is all that
is possible for now. No new Wasmannia detections have occurred for several
months as a result of inter-island plant inspections.

Related, still no one has found out about the use of containerized baits in
fruit orchards. Glen Tanaguchi may be using containers for ants in
pineapple. This needs to be followed up on. It is likely that containers
would have to be spaced very close for effective control, but at least it
may be an alternative to non-treatment.

+ Red Imported Fire Ant (Ellen VanGelder)
Ellen provided several handouts regarding risk assessment and rapid
response for RIFA in Hawaii. Earlier she had emailed the Antlist
listserver requesting comments for a proposal to EPA Wetlands program
regarding enhancing Hawaii's prevention/rapid response plan (that she and
Lloyd are currently scripting). The proposal identifies purpose, needs,
objectives, schedule of tasks, and list of products. The proposal has now
been submitted (for a copy contact Ellen). Ellen suggested using the CGAPS
Invasive Species Assessment Worksheet as the format to develop the plan.

Discussion: Much discussion ensued about what is needed in Hawaii for
better risk awareness, prevention, and response to RIFA arrival. Some
highlights include: What pesticide is/can be used against RIFA now or in
emergencies; Who are the stakeholders in this battle and how to get their
input; How to provide information to the legislature and stakeholders; How
to handle potential RIFA calls with limited personnel; Are better place of
origin inspections possible by urging Feds to enforce regulations; Can
surveys be conducted in high risk areas in Hawaii; Would a "Christmas
Aliens Count" (like a Christ Bird Count) help raise public awareness; Can
we ensure that the Maui entomologist position will be refilled and get the
Kauai entomologist position reinstated.

Some possible answers include: Get ants included into the presentation that
Fred Krauss & Duane Nelson are giving to the legislature on alien species.
Ellen was suggested as the person to give the presentation, but it would
good if Neil can get permission to be present to field questions. At the
very least, the idea that ants are/can be a huge problem in Hawaii needs to
be put "on the radar screen" of the legislature. The chair of DOA or higher
may need to be lobbied to refill the Maui position and reinstate the Kauai
position. A concise information package needs to be assembled to provide
consistent, expert information to the legislature, stakeholders, and the
public. Meetings with individual stakeholders will allow each to state
their concerns and potential involvement in RIFA issues.

Lloyd passed around an article from the December 1, 2000 issue of Pacific
Business News, "Fire ant inspection program stings shippers," and his
published response. The article is a reminder that economics needs to be
part of the discussion when proposing measures against alien species.

+ Mauna Kea Ant work (Pete Oboyski)
Pete reviewed the progress of ant studies on Mauna Kea and provided a map
of species' distributions. This was the 4th seasonal survey done it 2
years (June & December 1999, June and December 2000). Of note were the
high occurrence of Cardiocondyla venustula at higher elevation. No great
range expansions appear to have occurred in the past two years, though both
years were particularly dry for the southwest slope of Mauna Kea where
surveys took place. Species found during the survey were Cardiocondyla
venustula, Linepithema humile, Pheidole megacephala, and Monomorium
pharaonis. With recent rains there is a chance that ants will expand into
areas where vegetation has previously been under drought conditions. The
objectives of the study are to map the seasonal distributions of the ant
species on Mauna Kea in relation to palila habitat and vegetation types,
and to provide baseline data for control measures.

This is true. There is ample parking at Kaka'ako Park. Take Ohe St. to
the end of the road (makai end). Make a right into the parking lot. Then
walk about 100 yards back to the HDOA office. Sorry for the inconvenience.

aloha,
Neil Reimer

A note from Duane Nelson concerning the next CGAPS meeting indicates that,
because of construction, parking at HDOA Quarantine is tight to
non-existent. Duane recommends that we park at the Kaka'ako Waterfront
Recreation Area on Cooke St. Unless Neil corrects this, be prepared.

Cheers,
Frank

Hi all - here's an agenda for tomorrow. -ellen
AGENDA

1. Wasmannia
a. Update on Dan's Wasmannia work on big island
b. Update on Wasmannia class activity on Maui
c. Update on Big Island Wasmannia situation from Pat
2. RIFA Prevention
a. EPA preproposal (for 2001 funds) for RIFA prevention
b. Work plan for EPA 1999 grant
- Timeline for work
- Plan Outline
- Work Plan for entomol.assistant

c. Outreach
d. Involvement of others in the planning process/ant meetings
3. Other?

Hi all - just a reminder that Tues. 12th (9:00am, same place) is the
next ant meeting. Anyone want to carpool with taxi from the airport? I
get into Honolulu at 8:20am. -ellen

Hi,

Peter O asked me to write an article for the Hilo Tribune Herald's "Volcano
Watch" feature which appears every Sunday. The weekly essay is about 600
words. Normally the column focuses on a geological issue, but occasionally
there is one on biological material. Peter provided the following helpful
outline:

- No native ants
- How many now
- When/how they arrived
- Some basic ant biology
- What they eat
- Where they live
- Social systems
- Why worry about ants
- urban, agro & natural systems
- Little fire ant
- Around the world
- In Hawaii
- Description
- Control efforts
- Who/how to contact

Attached is my shot at it. I have deviated from the outline slightly. You
can bring your suggestions to the meeting on Tuesday, as I will not have a
chance to do any revisions before then. Or email will be fine.

Aloha
Dan
Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\Volcano Watch.rtf"

Ellen:

For what its worth, a few comments from introduced ant sufferers in
Galapagos!

From our experience, ants are principally imported on fruits, however,
it is relatively easy for them to come in on non-organic products. In
this case, perhaps a risk analysis would not be very useful. If there is
a good quarantine system in place and inspectors are trained to look for
RIFA  and are aware of the states it could be imported from, then
that is all that can probably be done to minimize the risk of it entering
Hawaii.  Perhaps,  more money should be invested on setting up
an early detection program involving  key community groups, in
addition to setting up a monitoring program using baits. By way of
intensive education campaigns the public would become aware of the
dangers of this species arriving in Hawaii, how it could get there and
would be more likely to report the presence of this species and cooperate
in the monitoring program. We are currently setting up
something similar and have found that farmers and schools are willing to
help out with the monitoring programs in order to avoid the introduction
of more aggressive species. I seem to recall that something similar was
done for Wasmannia in Hawaii?

Saludos
Charlotte

Ellen,

Looks good to me. You are waymore familiar with it so I can't think of
anything to add. Item 5 will undoubtedly show that it can survive
everywhere people are and beyond. I should also show how far it will go
into natural areas so that's a plus. Are there areas here where it is less
than 10" rainfall so it won't colonize? Is there an upper limit to the
amount of rainfall they tolerate?
If so, that would need to be factored in with temp. effect on distribution.

Thanks for your effort and see you Tuesday.

Pat Conant

I agree Steve. Actually, Ellen and I went to California last April and met
with the California Department of Food and Agriculture Red Imported fire
ant Task Force. They showed us the steps they were taking to "erradicate"
RIFA in California. This was very early in their program when RIFA was
restricted to Orange Co. and the group was still developing strategy. We
were taken around to several nurserys and field sites to see what they are
doing in the field. However, things have changed since then. RIFA is now
more widespread. It may be time to repeat this trip and look at what is
being done in the different counties with specific commodities.

Hi all - comments from David Duffy, for your info and comments. -ellen

From: David Duffy <dduffy@hawaii.edu>
Subject: Re: comments requested!!
To: EVG <evangeld@hawaii.edu>
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 10:18:08 -1000

I would do a risk assessment focused on the ants, but for Oahu.We
need info for the main commercial center as it may have a different
cargo than Maui

Steve - thanks! Neil? Bernarr? Any thoughts on this?

Stephen_E_Miller@r1.fws.gov wrote:

> Ellen and Lloyd,
>
> Your outline sounds like a great proposal. I am under the impression that
> all of the risk assessment work will be done here in Hawaii. It might be
> worth while adding something about assess risk at the other end of the
> line. Perhaps a list of products that are coming in from fire ant areas on
> the mainland could be used to structure a series of mainland site visits
> that look at product processing and handling relative to the risk of
> getting fire ants in with the product, and possible methods of pre-shipment
> control. I suspect that California Ag may have information on this or may
> be a willing participant in the proposal to carry out this aspect. This
> may be overreaching for your current efforts, but it seems like an obvious
> aspect of the risk assessment.
>
> Stephen_E_Miller@fws.gov
> Ecosystem Conservation Coordinator
> U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
> Pacific Islands Office
> 300 Ala Moana Blvd.
> Room 3-122
> Honolulu, Hawaii 96850
> Phone: (808) 541-3441 FAX: (808) 541-3470

Hi again all - it seems the antlist is up and running again, so could
you respond to my request for comments via the list? thanks!! -ellen

Hi all
As some of you know, Lloyd and I submitted a pre-proposal to
EPA wetlands program, for more fire ant prevention funds. We were
notified recently that weíve been asked to submit a full proposal (due
before our ant meeting hence this attempt to get your
comments/thoughts via email). The pre-proposal basically contained
Lloyd and my best shot at what we thought were additional tasks needed
to strengthen Hawaiiís prevention/rapid response plan for the RIFA (i.e.
being developed with the EPA FY00 Wetland Grant funds we already
received).
These tasks are:
1.) conduct a RIFA risk assessment for goods shipped to Hawaii from RIFA
infested States (in order to identify goods to focus planned
inspection/treatments on). Risk Analyst at $50,000/yr x 2yrs =
$100,000
2.) analyze the State and federal policy framework within which Hawaiiís
RIFA prevention/quick response plan will be initiated, and provide
subsequent recommendations of alternative policy initiatives where
deemed needed to obtain a high degree of success of an implemented
plan. $50,000/yr, 2yr @ 1/4FTP = $25,000 (done with in-kind
contributions)
3.) expand and coordinate public education efforts to include various
community groups, public agencies, legislative bodies, and the private
sector (businesses, business associations, and various industry related
groups) in an effort to expand awareness/early detection, and foster
support of the community for prevention/quick response activities.
Outreach Coordinator at $50,000/yr, 1yr @ FTP = $50,000
4.) conduct an economic assessment of a RIFA invasion in Hawaii (for
establishment of prevention as priority within the political arena).
Economist at $50,000/yr, 1yr = $50,000
5.) identify temperature-dependant RIFA range limits for the State of
Hawaii with an adjusted computer model originally established for
analysis of RIFA range limits for the mainland United States, using
climate data obtained from the NOAA database network (in order to best
prioritize early detection activities). System Modeler at $3,000/mo,
2mos = $6,000

My main concern right now is with item number 1, above. Our initial
thought for this was that we would look at all types of goods coming in
from rifa infested states and determine the risk associated with them,
so we would know where to focus inspections or treatments. I talked to
Neil about this task this morning. There are some problems with it ñ
mainly, to determine the amount of risk associated with non-agriculture
items such as shipping containers of, say, patio furniture, or boxes of
peoples personal goods, may not be worth the cost. Neil thought that if
RIFA were in these types of goods, it would likely be single queens (not
colonies), and the likelihood of finding a single queen amongst the
goods, even for experienced/trained inspectors, would be small. He
thought that if we indeed wanted a risk assessment, it may be best to
focus on items that are high risk (more likely to contain colonies).
However, a lot of the work that would be conducted for this may be being
covered already with the pest risk assessment currently being conducted
at Kahului airport, on agriculture items shipped in from the mainland.
Neil suggested that maybe there are other things to ask for $$ for that
might be more valuable, such as activities dealing with early
detection/rapid response (a survey to determine if we have incipient
populations already?), or activities associated with getting goods
treated before they get here (though maybe this is partly covered by
task 2?).

So that's where we are. What are your thoughts on a risk assessment?
Any ideas on other additional tasks that we might want to do
instead? Keep in mind that we already received money to put together a
prevention/rapid response plan, and that EPA wetlands grants will fund
activities that strengthen wetland plans or programs, but not actual
implementation of these. Lloyd does not think EPA will mind if we
submit a full proposal with tasks altered somewhat from those in the
pre-proposal. -Ellen

Gordon - FYI, i tried sending the message again yesterday, but I never received
it (via the antlist). I tried sending it again at about 7:15 this morning,
without the attachment. It appears not to have gotten through. For now, I'll
just send it direct to members, but just wanted to let you know what was up.
See you on the 12th! -ellen

Gordon Nishida wrote:

> Hi Ellen:
>
> It appears this message didn't get through. Possibly it was because the
> computer guys changed the mail system over to another server this morning.
> Another possibility is that the attachment was sent as machine code added
> to the message rather than a straight attachment. Could you try to resend?
> Thanks,
> Gordon
>

Hi all - A concern Lloyd brought up is that if biocontrol options are viewed as
truely able to keep ant populations at a minimum, people may not be that
concerned about preventing introduction of this species into Hawaii. -ellen

Hi ant-listers,

Dan, Pete, Paul, and Neil have all raised points about likely
(in)efficacy of phorids. I agree with most of their points. I've
also read that phorids are effective only in that they give the
native ants a boost in competitive interactions. If this is the
case, phorids would likely have little impact on ants in Hawai'i.
However, if something else--e.g., Vespula--is competing with ants in
Hawai'i, phorids might have an impact, but not necessarily a
desirable one from an overall conservation viewpoint.

Vinson's comments via Dan that S. invicta is heavily
dependent on mealybugs is very interesting. I wonder how he
determines their *dependence* and over what part of S. invicta's
range they co-occur. Given that a hallmark of invasive ants is
their ability to utilize a variety of food resources wherever
they've invaded, I would not place too much hope on
broad-scale control of S. invicta or any other ant with this
approach.

Lori

At 07:35 PM 11/17/00 GMT, you wrote:
[snip}
>A recent paper by Lloyd Morrison addresses this topic of phorid effects on
>RIFA competitiveness. I haven't read it carefully, but basically it agrees
>with Dan's comments. He didn't find phorid presence to reduce competitive
>ability of S. invicta with S. geminata. He suggested that multiple [snip]

I have mixed feelings about the introduction of Solenopsis-specific
phorids. Morrison's studies were done in the laboratory and one must
always be careful projecting results from lab studies to field situations.
I'm by no means an expert on these flies, but my impression is that they
only have a small impact on Solenopsis colonies in Brazil. My
understanding from discussions with researchers in Brazil is that S.
invicta populations in the field are impacted more by competition with
other ant species than by any of the biological control agents found to date.

I also feel that the discussions on importing these flies to Hawaii is a
bit premature. We have the luxury of being able to "sit back" and see what
transpires with the release of the phorids and other bc agents against S.
invicta on the mainland.

Hey Paul, welcome to the Hawaii Ant Group.

Is that our name? Have we ever decided on a name? I know we were throwing
around Hawaii Ant Group (HAG), and Hawaii Ant Working Group (HAWG), any
others?

aloha,

Neil Reimer

Are they specific to Solenopsis? Possibly.
Will they do much to control them? Probably not.
So what's the point?

It is not enough to do something just to say we are doing something. It is
like the dark ages of medicine when leaches were used to remove "bad
blood," rather than understanding the disease. At least those doctors had
the excuse of not having the knowledge of modern medicine. Today we have
the ability to understand food webs and ecosystem interactions, so it is
unconscionable to look at each pest in isolation. It is the responsibility
of researchers to understand all the possible methods of ameliorating the
effects of pests and report their results clearly.

For some agencies there is a requirement to report alternatives to a
particular control method and then describe why each is less feasible.
This should be standard practice for Biological Control - list alternative
control measures, their costs (financial, non-target risk, ecosystem
function), and benefits. A cost (financial) to benefit (potential control
of pest) ratio analysis usually falls out in favor of BioControl because
costs are low (even with host range tests as they are currently done) and
because POTENTIAL benefits are enticing. I wonder how real some of these
analyses are? Do they consider long-term impacts? Irreversibility? And
all the other factors Frank highlights in his landmark paper?

Admittedly, Hawaii seems like a good place to try these flies (since we
have no native ants, or any social insects). However, the Hawaiian
Phoridae are virtually unknown. I doubt there would be any competitive
exclusion with Hawaiian phorids, but there are so many groups that are so
poorly known that we can never be sure of non-target impact. Perhaps,
though, this is an occasion that something of minimal benefit is better
than nothing at all. Or is it?

$0.02

Pete

P.S. "Cannibal flies" is just another example of how poorly our field is
understood by non-entomologists. Or perhaps how impoverished the
understanding our language has become.

I had heard the same thing about the ants switching. The theory was
that lower temperatures would make ant nocturnal foraging less
efficient. This may be a start however.--David

Hi,

This is Paul Krushelnycky, I have recently added myself to the antlist.
Greetings to all those who know me, and I hope to meet the rest of you soon.

A recent paper by Lloyd Morrison addresses this topic of phorid effects on
RIFA competitiveness. I haven't read it carefully, but basically it agrees
with Dan's comments. He didn't find phorid presence to reduce competitive
ability of S. invicta with S. geminata. He suggested that multiple species
of phorids that attack different sizes of workers might be more effective,
however the phorids don't seem to attack in areas where competition is
occurring, and invicta (and geminata) seem to be quite good at altering
behavior to compensate for the presence of phorids.

The reference is:
Morrison, L.W. 2000. Mechanisms of Pseudacton parasitoid effects on
exploitative and interference competition in host Solenopsis ants. Annals of
the Entomological Society of America 93(4): 841-849.

Paul

Phorid ant parasitoids are very specific to ants, and since we lack any
native ants that these flies might shift to, it seems a good bet. In these
studies, the researchers are quite confident the flies are specific to
Solenopsis fire ants. Of course, no new introductions are desirable, but I
believe there are cases where the great benefits clearly outweigh the the
slim risks (I would also argue the melastomes may be another example, as
there are no closely related natives).

However, I spoke with Fred Vinson at the ICE in Brazil, and he feels quite
strongly that these phorids will have very little impact on the invasive
populations of invicta. He says the flies stall the foraging of 1-2% of the
workers, and the ants quickly learn to forage at night to avoid the flies.
He believes (sorry I do not have the references to back up these points)
that competition with other "nasty" ants keeps invicta in check in its
native range. In the US, the native ants just are not nasty enough!
Furthermore, many of the natives ants are so reduced in range and number,
they are unlikely to complement the fly to create effective control.

Vinson noted that the fire ants depend heavily on an introduced mealy bug
for carbohydrates. He suggests this may be the place to target control.
This mealy bug may be very influential in the huge population sizes the ant
attains in the South. But this becomes more problematical for biological
control in Hawaii. We have native mealy bugs, but also a whole range of
introduced honeydew producing Homopterans.

my $0.02
dan

PS Isn't a "cannibal" something that dines on its own kind? So how are
these flies cannibals??!?

Hi all - Neil reserved the PPQ conference room for us for the 12th
9:00-12:00. Anyone with agenda ideas, by all means please email.
Topics I've got so far:
1. update on Dan's wasmannia work on big island
2. EPA proposal (for 2001 funds) for RIFA prevention work
3. The RIFA prevention plan
-Ellen
--
Ellen VanGelder
USGS-BRD, Haleakala Field Station
P.O. Box 369
Makawao, HI 96768
808-572-4472

Hi folks - I spoke with Dan Gruner not long ago, and he mentioned that
he thought we should have another ant group meeting in the near future.
I agree. What does everyone think? Early December works best for me.
How does, say, the morning of Dec.8th, sound? -ellen
--
Ellen VanGelder
USGS-BRD, Haleakala Field Station
P.O. Box 369
Makawao, HI 96768
808-572-4472

Pete - We usually order it through VanWater & Rogers, in Honolulu. They may know where you can get it on big
island. Also, I've been told that on Maui, Brewer carries it (perhaps they have a store on big island?).
-Ellen

Anters,

I need to obtain some MaxForce. I have checked many garden shops and stores on the Big Island to no avail. Does anyone know of a local source or do I need to contact a distributor?

For now I need to control a few smallish areas of Argentines at Pohakuloa Training Area. Eventually I will want to do some larger control efforts, but for now it is for areas around buildings.

Pete

Lori - FYI, at the last red-imported fire ant conference (April'00) it
was pointed out by one of the USDA/ARS folks (cant remember who exactly),
that S.wagneri is not the accepted name for S.invicta. I believe it is a
"proposed" name change, but it is not know whether or not the
name/clumping of invicta and richteri will be accepted. Consequently,
people were urged not to use this name until a decision was officially
made. Do you know if this has indeed happened since april? -ellen
-----------------
Ellen VanGelder
USGS-BRD Haleakala Field Station

Hello fellow ant-listers,

I'm co-authoring a review paper on ecologic impacts of invasive ants
with David Holway at UCSD. Initially we are focusing our efforts on
L. humile, P. megacephala, A. gracilipes, W. auropunctata, and S.
wagneri, but may add others.

To ensure that we are comprehensive we are asking colleagues to
let us know about papers or reports in prep, in press, or published
in literature not easily accessed through the usual databases. If
you have something we can cite, or if you anticipate having something
in the next few months, please write to me at either
ljl13@cornell.edu or llach@botzoo.uct.ac.za. Thanks for your help.

Lori

FYI.

From: Katie_Swift@r1.fws.gov
Subject: FW: BIG HEADED ANTS DOMINATE INSECT WORLD ON KURE ATOLL -- 26,500ANTS
PER SQUARE METER FOUND IN SOME SECTIONS OF THE ISLAND
To: evangeld@hawaii.edu
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2000 03:03:19 -1000

NEWS RELEASE
October 5, 2000

Contact: Barbara Maxfield
808/541-2749

BIG HEADED ANTS DOMINATE INSECT WORLD ON KURE ATOLL -- 26,500 ANTS PER
SQUARE METER FOUND IN SOME SECTIONS OF THE ISLAND

If the quick density sampling conducted on Green Island yesterday proves to
be accurate, big-headed ants (Pheidole megacephala) have overrun the
ecosystem on the only permanent land mass within Kure Atoll.

The density sampling, conducted by entomologist Gordon Nishida and wildlife
biologist Beth Flint, recorded on average, an astounding 26,500 ants per
square meter at the sample sites.

"It's an incredible number," remarked Nishida. "But even more incredible
is that our count was done on surface ants only. Many other ants in a
colony, including the queen, live deeper underground. We have no idea what
their numbers might be here."

Non-native ants are one of the few animals that can quickly and completely
break an ecosystem. "They're ecosystem- busters," remarked Flint. "Ants
are incredibly effective and efficient predators and have few limits on
their diet. They'll eat anything that doesn't have a defense. And because
on Kure, these alien ants have no natural predators to control their
population, as long as they can find food, their colonies will probably
continue to grow."

"Big-headed ants are known exterminators of other insects," said Nishida.
"Their strong presence on the island may explain why it was so difficult to
find very many insects on the island. Native insects would have no
defenses against these ants, therefore would be easy prey and their
astonishing numbers here would probably affect even non-native species."

To complicate matters, these alien ants feed on the nectar of another
introduced insect, a scale that is also very common on island. The scale
insect breeds on an aggressive, introduced plant called Verbesina
encilioides (a member of the aster or daisy family), which has also overrun
the island. As the plant continues to spread on the island, so does the
scale population, which assists in the explosion of ants. "The large scale
population seems to be killing the Verbesina, which is a plus, but the
scales have also moved onto the native naupaka (Scaevola), leaving the
typical blackening caused by a fungus growing on the "honeydew" produced by
the scales. The ants collect the honeydew from the scales. In return for
the honeydew, the ants protect the scales from parasites and predators,
creating a powerful partnership," explained Nishida.

"Typically, when ants move into an ecosystem, many native insects become at
risk. I suspect that's what happened here. This is also what is happening
in the main Hawaiian Islands. Because the ecosystems in the main islands
are more complex, the impacts to native species are often harder to
understand," explained Nishida. "For this reason, it's important that we
learn about what's happening at places like Kure. These northwestern
islands and their limited ecosystems hold many lessons that can be applied
to natural resource management in the lower islands.

"These relationships are complicated," said Nishida, even in a relatively
simple ecosystem like the one on Kure. In my opinion, the numbers of ants
we found through our brief sampling warrants a closer look at the
situation.

In short, Nishida believes that comprehensive research on the ant problem
is needed. "Someone should study the problem more closely, and the State of
Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources needs funding to be able to
make this kind of research happen. Without it, they won't be able to
determine the best course of action to control the ant explosion or
understand why the ant numbers are so high or what their impact may be.
Kure is an important place for wildlife, particularly seabirds, but the
ants could really change that."

"Especially given the remote location of the Atoll, the State DLNR has been
doing a great job in increasing suitable habitat for ground-breeding
seabirds and other wildlife," said Flint, who has been working in the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for the 20 years. "But all their good work
could be greatly compromised if the ant situation isn't brought under
control. It's a real concern."

According to Flint, on Midway Atoll, biologists have instituted an ant
control program. They've also undertaken steps to control Verbesina on the
Atoll. "Perhaps Midway will have some answers for what can be done on
Kure," said Flint.

"At virtually every place we've been so far on this expedition, alien
insects dominate the insect world, with a small number of insect species
extremely prevalent," explained Nishida. "On Kure, the ants are doing the
whole job of what groups of different kinds of insects would do in an
ecosystem to keep it healthy. The balance of the system is, in my opinion,
out of whack."

The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources manages Kure Atoll as a
wildlife sanctuary. Due to limited funds, management activities on the
island are also limited to a few work trips per year, at most.

The density sampling wasn't a planned work objective for the pair of
scientists. The idea occurred to them quickly after arriving on island,
however, when it became obvious to them that the ants were everywhere, and
in noticeable numbers. Every item on the ground, whether rock, plants, or
debris were teeming with ants.

The sampling was done creatively, using film canisters and a firm piece of
plastic to collect even samples of surface sand at 12 different spots on
the island. The sand and insects found in the sand were then placed in
collection "kill" jars so Nishida could conduct a count of the ants. Each
canister measures 683 square millimeters. This figure was then used to
calculate what the density of ants would be over a square meter.

###

IN OTHER NEWS:
Divers complete their rapid ecological assessments of the coral reef
resources around Kure Atoll one day ahead of schedule. A report on their
findings will follow tomorrow. The sediment team also completed their
sampling and ground-truthing activities at Kure today. (Video of their
work at Kure, including coral beds, spinner dolphins, galapagos sharks,
marine debris found underwater, etc. will be available October 8.)

The expedition education team completed eight live call-ins with schools
across the State this week. The long-distance learning project will
continue throughout the duration of the expedition. The team also
conducted a number of live, taped and e-mail interviews with various news
media this week.

COMING UP:
The Rapture heads back to Midway Atoll at 1:00 a.m. on October 6, one day
ahead of schedule. Scientists will conduct rapid ecological assessment
dives at, at least 3 different sites around the Atoll. Photographers will
accompany fish researchers from the NOAA ship Townsend Cromwell to document
their final work of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Expedition. The
Townsend Cromwell is the sister research vessel to the Rapture during the
northwestern expedition. They began their work two weeks earlier and will
complete their expedition work tomorrow. (Video of the Townsend Cromwell
will also be brought back to Honolulu on October 8.) The land team will
have an extra day of rest and relaxation at Midway. Late Saturday
evening, the Rapture will depart for Pearl and Hermes Reef, the
expedition's next port-of-call.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The clear-sighted do not rule the world,
but they sustain and console it.
-Agnes Repplier
___________________________________________________________________

Aulani Wilhelm
Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources
Public Information Office
808/587-0330 * 808/587-0390 (fax)

Hi Allison (and antlist folks) -

I work for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Honolulu office and am
looking into doing an ant eradication pilot project on a small island in
the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. I don't know if this would be
the type of project you're looking for but I'll give you a few details and,
if it sounds interesting, you can contact me (I also welcome input from
antlist folks on study design and suggestions for folks to do the field
work).

Within the Midway Atoll refuge there is a small island (about 6 acres)
called Spit Island that is dominated by native coastal plants and also
serves as a seabird nesting area and pupping beach for the endangered
Hawaiian monk seal. It is the least visited island in the atoll and has
the most intact native vegetation - in addition to 2-3 species of alien
ants (all ants are alien species in Hawaii). This year we're completing a
study of some ant control plots on the largest island in the atoll and are
ready to move on to attempting complete ant eradication on a small scale.
Ants are assumed to negatively impact native vegetation and insects and
have been documented to attack seabird chicks. The goals of the Spit
Island study are 1. test out a method for ant eradication using ant
bait/poison applied via hand broadcast and possibly in bait stations, 2.
conduct a thorough before and after survey to scientifically document (for
the first time in this sort of habitat) the effects of ant removal on
native flora and fauna and, possibly 3. documenting ant re-colonization
rates (the assumption being that ants will eventually get back on via
birds, wind, biologists, etc.).

Now the logistics - Midway is a 3-hour flight via commercial jet from
Honolulu and flights are generally once per week in the summer and once
every two weeks in the winter. Midway is run as an ecotourism destination
so there are comfortable barracks, cafeteria, telephones, electricity,
running water, washing machines, a bar, etc. --- easy living. Obviously,
the easiest thing would be having someone live on island for the duration
of the project. It may also be possible to come out for periodic trips
and have a volunteer or refuge biologist do the interim monitoring. The
main thing I'm looking for is a sound study design, consistent monitoring,
and a commitment to see the project through and write up the results in a
clear, scientifically sound format - publishing the results would
definitely be a plus. I also don't anticipate that I could get more than 1
(possibly 2) years of funding, although occasional follow up monitoring
visits could possibly be arranged to track long term ecological changes.

I don't have funding yet but I'm sure I could get some if I had the right
people lined up and a sound study design that would yield results useful
for island restoration and management at other Pacific island locations. I
would also try to include a small stipend as part of the project but it
probably would not be enough to live on for the project duration. We could
probably also cover round trip airfare from Honolulu to Midway and lodging
on Midway.

Let me know if this sounds interesting.

Chris Swenson
Fish and Wildlife Biologist
Pacific Island Ecoregion - Ecological Services
300 Ala Moana Blvd #3-122
Honolulu, HI 96850
(808)541-3441 - phone
Chris_Swenson@fws.gov

Fellow worker ants,

I gave Allison some suggestions already but I told her I would put her
message out on the table cloth (antlist) to see what kind of ants showed up
to exchange pheromones with her.

Patrick Wasmannia Conant

>Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2000 14:28:15 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Allison Drew <a_e_drew@yahoo.com>
>To: miconia@aloha.net
>
>Hello Patrick --
>I'm a new PhD student with george roderick and rosie
>gillespie at uc berkeley -- I'm in the process of
>generating some project ideas and am interested in
>looking at invasive ants in hawai'i and their effects
>on native plant communities. I originally thought i
>would look at their effects via seed dispersal and
>predation, but have been hearing from various folks in
>the field that there may not be a lot of that going on
>in hawai'i. So now I'm thinking of looking at other
>ant-effects like soil disturbance, changes in folivory
>rates in ant-infested areas, etc. My practical
>knowledge of hawaii is minimal, as i've never been
>there, which makes it difficult for me to pick
>particular ant species or plant species to focus on,
>or to identify particularly important effects that the
>ants might be having -- george and rosie have
>recommended that i get in touch with people in the
>know such as yourself to get some feedback on those
>points --
>any ideas?
>thanks very much --
>allison drew

The poster will be viewable from the following site:
http://130.118.89.100/Pete/antpage.htm

Also, I would like to have some handout materials available for those
looking for more information.
I will provide a sheet about HAG with the website listed (unless Gordon
would like to put 1 page together).
Neil, can we have some copies of the Wasmannia pest alert available?
Red Imported Fire Ant information sheet?
Anything else folks want to have handouts for?

Hey Folks,

Attached (and below) is the text portion of the poster I put together for
the HCC.

It is 2 panels of 18" x 30":
The first panel text is directly from the web page and has line drawings
from The Ants (Holldobler & Wilson).
The second panel text is a VERY brief summary of some of the things we do
and has various related photos.

Please review the text and let me know if it is appropriate and if any
corrections should be made. I cannot add
any more text unless I delete a few things. I would like to print this out
on our plotter Friday morning and have
it laminated Friday afternoon (I will be on Oahu all next week). So if you
have suggestions please get them to
me by Friday morning.

I am going to put the full poster on a temporary web page sometime today so
that you may all see the full lay out.
I'll send around a message with the address when it is up.

<http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/080100sci-animal-ant.html>

>INVADING ANTS PRESS UNITED FRONT IN CALIFORNIA
>from The New York Times
>
>SAN DIEGO -- In a quirk of evolution and genetics, Argentine ants are
>overwhelming native California ants while forming what scientists believe
>may be the biggest ant colony in the world, stretching more than 600 miles
>from San Diego to north of San Francisco.
>
>The ants in this so-called supercolony are so similar to each other
>genetically that different colonies do not fight with one another the way
>they do in their homeland. As a result, they are using a united family front
>to win territory from native ants.
>
>In Argentina, where they are known as sugar ants, different nests of the
>fiercely territorial ants fight with one another, competing for food and
>space. An ant that wanders into the territory of another colony just 50
>yards away will quickly be torn apart by workers who recognize the peculiar
>odor of a rival. But in California, scientists found that they could take a
>worker from San Diego and put it in a colony from San Francisco and it would
>be welcomed like a kissing cousin.
>
>Using the same DNA fingerprinting techniques used in paternity cases,
>scientists at the University of California at San Diego looked at the
>genetic differences between ants in Argentina and California. They
>discovered more than twice as much genetic diversity among Argentine ants in
>their native range compared with those in California.

Published reports and museum samples showed that Argentine ants first came
to the United States aboard ships carrying coffee and sugar from South
America during the 1890's. The scientists concluded that the relatively
small immigrant populations created a "genetic bottleneck," choking off
genetic diversity.

The small founding populations represented less than half the genetic
diversity of the species.

That has made almost all Argentine ants in California similar enough that
they can no longer distinguish between close kin and ants from other nests,
a critical mechanism in the evolution of social insects. So instead of
defending separate territories, the ants behave like a single fluid colony
in their new territory.

And though the Argentine ants appear to have mellowed out among themselves
in California and are mostly just a nuisance to humans, they ruthlessly
kill and displace native ants, some of which are 20 times as large as the
Argentines. The effects of the invasion ripple through the ecosystem. Some
plants, like tree poppies, depend on native ants for seed dispersal. And
large native harvester ants make up more than 90 percent of the diet of
coastal horned lizards, commonly known as horny toads and a candidate for
the endangered species list.

Dr. Ted J. Case, a biologist at the University of California at San Diego,
has spent much of his career studying population changes among reptiles on
islands and in isolated patches of natural habitat like parks in suburban
California.

When a statewide survey of reptiles and amphibians found a precipitous
decline in the population of coastal horned lizards, Dr. Case thought that
changes in the lizard's food base might be involved. So he pulled together
a team of scientists and students to study the tiny Argentine ants, which
are about a fifth of an inch long.

The DNA detective work capped a five-year investigation of the ecology,
behavior and genetics of the ants. By comparing Argentine ants in their
native and invaded ranges, the scientists solved an intriguing puzzle in
the increasingly important field of invasion biology, which is the study of
invasive species. Most invasive species move into a territory that has been
opened up by changes in habitat and local extinction of native species, Dr.
Case said. But in the case of Argentine ants, a genetic change triggered
changes in behavior and colony structure that enabled the invader to
conquer new territory by eliminating native species.

At the same time, the huge supercolony of Argentine ants in California
continues to pose an unsolved riddle about the evolution of so-called
unicolonial insects, which act as single colonies over large areas. And it
raises the creepy possibility of an insect world dominated by invasive
unicolonial species.
Scientists play down that possibility. The loss of genetic diversity is
generally considered to be detrimental to the survival of a species, said
Neil Tsutsui, a graduate student who did the genetics research in Dr.
Case's lab. The loss of kinship recognition is an even bigger problem for
social insects, he said. The only way female workers, who make up the bulk
of the colony, can ensure that their genes get passed on to future
generations is by protecting closely related queens. So it is assumed that
workers work only for queens who share their genes. But if workers cannot
distinguish between their kin and any other ants, they end up working for
the whole supercolony. And then there is no way for natural selection to
favor any one queen and her workers over any other in the colony.

If unicolonial insects were successful in the grand sweep of evolutionary
time, Dr. Case said, they would probably appear more often. Unicoloniality
may be useful in the short term, as it is for Argentine ants and some other
invasive ants, he said, but in the long run it appears to be an
evolutionary dead end because social behavior could not evolve.

That is little consolation for residents of Southern California, where the
small, dark brown and black Argentine ants are the No. 1 pest that
extermination companies are called upon to eliminate.

In contrast, it took a week for researchers to even find the ants in
Argentina. "It was eye-opening to see how inconspicuous they were in
Argentina," Dr. Case said. "Even in areas where they're relatively common,
they're not dominant. They're not a pest. So then the question was, what
has enabled them to be so successful here?"

In California, the researchers have no trouble finding ants to study. There
are Argentine ants invading the chaparral-covered ocean bluffs around the
University of California at San Diego. There are Argentine ants scurrying
along cracks in sidewalks on campus. And there are Argentine ants swarming
by the elevator on the ground floor of the biology building.

Although colleagues have joked that the researchers have aided and abetted
the invasion, Dr. Case's lab keeps its ants under strict control, in
plastic tubs coated with a slippery Teflon-like substance that ants cannot
climb. The lips of tubs are coated with a sticky substance that traps any
ants that might find a trail to the top. In the lab, different colonies of
Argentine ants are connected by plastic tubing to common foraging areas --
tubs with water and food.

By not fighting among themselves, Argentine ants in the supercolony gain a
competitive advantage over other ants, said Dr. David Holway, a
postdoctoral researcher who designed experiments to test the supercolony's
advantage over colonies that fight with one another. The experiments showed
that Argentine ants that cooperated with one another produced more than
three times the brood and more than twice as many workers as colonies that
fought with one another.

The experiments also showed the advantage the supercolony ants had over
native ants. The Argentine ants get to food faster, overwhelm rivals with
sheer numbers of workers, and defend their turf with chemical weapons they
spray on opponents. "The Argentine ants win in a few days," Andrew Suarez,
a graduate student, said with grim admiration. Mr. Suarez's family came
from Argentina, and his grandmother put up the research team members when
they studied the ants there.

Mr. Suarez said the experimental results helped explain why some parts of
California that once were home to as many as 20 different species of ants
now contained as few as two: Argentine ants and a native species that is
active in the winter, when the Argentine ants are less active.

"Some people say, 'Big deal; you're just replacing some ants with others,'
" Mr. Suarez said. "But the thing is, you're displacing 20 species. And all
the roles they play are wiped out: dispersing seeds, pollinating plants,
providing food for other animals. All the functions are totally lost when
Argentine ants move in."

Friends and neighbors often ask the researchers how to deal with Argentine
ants in their homes. Because their research indicates that lack of moisture
is the only factor that seems to limit the spread of Argentine ants, they
suggest a simple solution: replacing lush lawns with desert landscaping.
"You wouldn't have them if there were native plants and cactus and San
Diego looked like it should," Mr. Suarez said.

In their research papers, the scientists have also suggested that more
Argentine ants could be introduced to California to increase their genetic
diversity so that the ants would again fight with one another and contain
their own populations. But they conceded that it was an academic idea
unlikely to be practical. Any introduced populations would probably be
quickly wiped out by the supercolony, Mr. Tsutsui said.

Dr. Case's lab is now collaborating with scientists at Clorox who are
studying the chemicals that ants smell to identify nest mates. If they
could create a chemical that identifies ants as enemies of the supercolony,
then they might be able to spray the chemical on half of the colony and let
the Argentine ants fight to the death.

Another more grim possibility is that another invasive species could offer
some competition for the Argentine ants. In the Southeastern United States,
imported red fire ants seem to have limited the spread of Argentine ants.
The fire ants come from the same South American habitat as the Argentine
ants. And they are also an invasive unicolonial species. But unlike
Argentine ants, which spread slowly without help from humans and took a
century to spread throughout most of coastal California, fire ant queens
and winged males take nuptial flights and establish new far-flung colonies.
They have invaded California just in the last few years. And they are even
meaner than Argentine ants.

Dr. Case is chagrined to see another invasive species come to California.
Especially one that bites, he said. But he and his colleagues are also
students of invasions and species change. And the coming showdown between
Argentine and fire ants will offer another opportunity to study an invasion
as it happens.

Hi all - is anyone going to this? Just wondering if someone will be
able to bring back the latest info on Argentine ant eradication efforts
in NZ (assuming it's presented at the conference). -Ellen

From: Wilco Liebregts <ecoconsult@is.com.fj>
Subject: [pestnet] Conference on Eradication of Island Invasives - NZ
To: pestnet@egroups.com
Cc: Dick Veitch <dveitch@kiwilink.co.nz>
Reply-to: pestnet@egroups.com
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 21:48:55 -1000

Eradication of Island Invasives: Practical Actions and Results Achieved

An international conference of the Invasive Species Specialist Group of IUCN to
be held at the University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand from 19 to 23
February 2001.

The Conference
Papers presented and discussion sessions will focus on the subject of:
"Eradication of invasive species from islands; methods used and the results
achieved." The term 'eradicating' may include work to remove invasive species
where complete eradication is some, or many, years away but the methods used to
date are achieving positive results or providing a significant learning
experience. The term 'island' may include true islands, natural habitat
islands (eg. ponds), remnant and artificial habitat islands (eg. reserves), or
new invasions of natural ecosystems where eradication was deemed feasible.
Preference will be given to papers which provide detail of the techniques used
or of the ecosystem response to the work. Significant learning experiences may
include methods which failed.

Costs
Registration, including a volume of abstracts, a copy of the proceedings, all
morning and afternoon teas on campus, all lunches and a wine and cheese on the
Monday evening: NZ$270. A discount is available for early registration and
there is special consideration for full-time students. A full day field trip
is offered at extra cost. A Conference Dinner is offered at extra cost. A
list of accommodations is available.

More Information and How to Register
Go to the website http://www.issg.org for further information.
Or ask the Conference Manager: Mr Dick Veitch, 48 Manse Road, Papakura, New
Zealand, phone & fax 64-9-298-5775, mobile 64-9-25-200-5490. email
dveitch@kiwilink.co.nz for further information and a registration form.

Regards

Dick Veitch
48 Manse Road
Papakura
New Zealand

Phone/fax 64-9-298 5775
Email <dveitch@kiwilink.co.nz>
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FIJI ISLANDS
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VISIT OUR WEBSITE: www.pacificforum.com/ecoconsult

Peter - thanks so much for again writing and posting the minutes! -Ellen

Pete, the minutes look good and complete, except for mention of the next
meeting. Specifics will need to wait until the Hawaii Con Con agenda is
posted, but shall we try to have a brief meeting there? Will there be new
developments to discuss in August?

Hawaii Ant Group meeting ? 16 June 21, 2000 (9:00 ? 11:00 am)

Present:
Ellen VanGelder (USGS-BRD / UH)
Lloyd Loope (USGS-BRD)
Neil Reimer (HI Dept Ag)
Pat Conant (HI Dept Ag)
Dan Gruner (Univ. HI)
Bernarr Kumashiro (HI Dept Ag)
Pete Oboyski (USGS-BRD / UH)
Gordon Nishida (Bishop Museum)

Wasmannia Update (Pat Conant)

Pat provided a handout summarizing the status of known Wasmannia
infestations, as follows: No new sites discovered; Papaikou population
close to eradication pending (4th) treatment of nearby area with Amdro;
Panaewa infestation (100m row of fishtail palms and Pandanus) near
eradication after 4 treatments; Success of Extinguish still to be
demonstrated in a MacNut field this month; efforts have focused on potted
plants rather than residences and flower farms to thwart further spread.

Initial treatment (with Amdro) knocks populations below detection with
peanut butter chopsticks. Larger infestations and those close to crops
continue to be the most difficult to delineate and control. Vector control
staff (2 people) continue to assist in control efforts but cannot take
lead, so Pat continues to coordinate efforts. An Alu Like student
assistant will be helping Pat and Clyde for the next month and a half.
Clyde is still on the injured list.

K-12 Outreach & Education (Dan Gruner)

After working with 9 classes from 4 schools (Pahoa High, Waiakea High,
Waiakea Intermediate, Keaau High), Dan has 150+ bags of ants to sort
through. No Wasmannia detected yet. To remove ants from peanut butter,
following Bernarr's suggestion, Dan is drying samples so that peanut butter
and ants flake-off from chopsticks. Data is entered into Biota, which
provides for taxonomic and location information, as well as associated
images. It will be important to work through "results" with students.
Even though no Wasmannia were detected, the kids need feedback and
demonstration on how to prepare and present results. Dan also asked for
ideas on independent projects for kids.

Discussion: Pat suggested synthesizing distribution of ant species that
have shown outbreak patterns in other places or at other times (eg. T.
albipes, I. glaber). Since a scope is important to see some of the key
characters for distinguishing species, Lloyd offered to help write a grant
to obtain a microscope. Gordon suggested a scope connected to a
tv/computer screen so all the kids can see at once. Pete suggested letting
the kids generate their own keys based on the characters they most easily
recognize. Ellen suggested contacting the Harbenger Institute, who are
based in Keaau and work with school groups on Haleakala, for helping to
develop continued curriculum. Pete offered to help with GIS needs.

CGAPS Assessments (Ellen VanGelder)

Ellen asked for any further suggestions or thoughts on the 2 CGAPS
assessments recently submitted (RIFA and Ants in general). The more
general discussion below followed:

Discussion: What are the high risk PATHWAYS of invasion for Hawaii? for
other areas? "Pest calls" to extension agents would be one source of
non-agriculture pathway info. Stow-away mated queens in containers may be
another unappreciated pathway. Is dirt on earthmoving equipment a high
risk pathway? Can a study of pathways be conducted in Hawaii? Elsewhere?
AQIM program is a voluntary, random sampling of containers regardless of
content to assess pathways. Neil is working on AQIM assessment in Hawaii.

Other: Mainland agencies asking for renewed federal support for RIFA,
because risks of movement have increased, but staff and funding have
remained the same or decreased for most. Military requires the washing off
of dirt from equipment before overseas transport. Can state or feds
require this? Local USDA staff is unaware of many of the regulations they
should be following (particularly for RIFA) ? HDOA staff has been
"reminding" them from time to time.

Other Items

More OUTREACH can be accomplished through newspapers, tv news, and public
forums. Ellen & Lloyd meeting with Bob Besch (sp?) regarding what
products are registered for use in Hawaii and what can be used in
"emergency" situations. Pete and Gordon are preparing a poster and Pat and
Ellen are each preparing talks for the Hawaii Conservation Conference.

Hi, I dont know if this will reach anyone in time, but dont look for me at
the taxi stand, I am coming in on earlier flight so i can make it over to
UH and get a vehicle for the day. Aloha.

PS agenda sounds great.

Hi gang,

Sorry I've been out of the office this past week and have many
deadlines to meet; thus I reluctantly must miss tomorrow's meeting. But
have a good one!

Cheers,
Frank

Hi all - I know this is extremely last-minute, but here are some
thoughts for agenda items for tomorrows meetings:

1. Update on Wasmannia (Pat)
2. Update on Wasmannia school curriculum (Dan)
3. Discussion of CGAPS species assessment worksheets
4. Discussion of RIFA pathways/prevention (i.e. techniques used by
military)
5. Pesticides (EPA database; meeting with Pesticide Branch)

I am on the same flight as Dan, arriving 810 in Honolulu.
I will plan on meeting folks at the taxi stand.

Dan do you want a ride to Hilo airport?

I am looking for a lift to the Bishop Museum after the meeting.

Pete

Pat, Pete, Lloyd - do you want to car pool with Dan and I from airport
to meeting? Just wondering if we should wait for you to arrive before
loading into a taxi. -ellen

Sounds good - I get in at 8:20. How about if we meet on the median
where the taxi service is located? -Ellen

Hey outer-islanders, how about collaboration on a taxi to get to the
meeting friday morning? I will be arriving circa 810 am on Hawaiian
Airlines, but I can wait a bit while others arrive. Also, I would like to
get to the University afterward so anybody going that way please keep me in
mind!

thanks
Dan

Ellen,

No problem, thanks for investigating the possibility. I'll try to
make the next meeting in July.

Mike R.

Ok folks - i think it best to leave the meeting date for Friday, June
16th. Unfortunate that it overlaps with BIISC, but rescheduling will
create conflicts for other people. -ellen

The 16th is much better for me, though I might be able to swing the 19th if
no one else has a problem with it.

I guess it might be possible - what do you all think? If we were to change
it to, say, the following Monday (19th), could anyone NOT make it? Would
the conference room be available? Who won't be able to make the ant meeting
if its on the 16th? -ellen

Ellen,

This meeting date will conflict with the BIISC meeting on the same
date. Is there any way to change plans at this time?

Mike R.

Hi all - just wanted to remind you that the date/time for the next
meeting is Friday June 16, at 9:00, same place (HDOA PPQ). -Ellen

Aloha,

for those that are interested, I received many interesting suggestions to
try for the ant/peanut butter problem. Responses (except for less detailed
duplicate suggestions) are listed below. I have kept the respondees
anonymous--I hope this is appropriate. Thanks to all those who responded!!!

Dan Gruner

PS as for the suggestion of trying different baits, this is indeed a good
one for many situations. But for our situation (in GK-12 schools) it is
best to use something commonly available in all, or most, households, and
not needed in large quantity (e.g. compare cost of opening a can of tuna
for every household, or consider sending kids home to vegetairan households
with Vienna sausages!). Thus peanut butter seems to be an ideal solution,
when weighing a number of logistical concerns and efficacy of attracting
Wasmannia.

*****************

I wonder if the problem is actually water in the peanut butter (and the
ants) rather than fat. Have you tried using the Histoclear last instead of
first? I'm wondering about running the initial ant-filled peanut butter
globs through, say, 75% ethanol, 95% ethanol, (maybe acetone,) then
Histoclear. This would dissolve the water out. You might not need so many
steps - this is the sequence I use to dehydrate cleared beetles for
slide-mounting in Permount (synthetic Canada balsam substitute), which is
soluble in Histoclear (or xylene or toluene), but not acetone or alcohol.

*****************

I don't quite understand why the specimen quality is so important, it
would seem like picking them off the stick into a vial of alcohol and then
just shaking it up a bit would be ok for the purpose of counting and
identifying them. Ants are remarkably sturdy, and as long as you're not
dealing with really similar species (where you would need to count setae,
etc.) they should remain identifiable through just about any peanut butter
removal scheme I can think of.
Also, my experience with W. auropunctata has been that they aren't very
good at stinging unless they get on you in large numbers. I collect then
with my fingers and never feel stings.

(later addition)

Don't get me wrong, you are perfectly justified in doing this the way you
want to do it, I'm just thinking that it sounds very labor intensive. You
might want to experiment a bit more with different baits, I've had good
luck attracting little fire ants (and of course myriad other ants) in the
caribbean using tuna fish in small vials buried like pitfalls.

*****************

This might sound a bit silly but why not use very hot water, with detergent
if necessary, then filter through fine curtain mesh or sieve. If required
you could then use Margaret's alcohol wash before the Histoclear. Ants seem
to be remarkably resilient, even to the extent that when they get in the
kettle and get a bit boiled they still remain whole, thus the very hot
water would not hurt the specimens?? If you are not going to keep all the
material I find it much easier to look at trap material in water, before
added the odd specimen to ethanol to preserve if required.

*****************

I collect leafhoppers from sticky traps and use hexanes to dissolve the
glue, and then transfer to EtOH. I don't buy a high grade, just the cheap
mixed hexanes. This works very well. I think that should dissolve the fats
that you're left with.

*****************

I work for the U.S.Food and Drug Admin. (FDA). I examine food for insect
and animal contamination. Occasionally we get samples of peanut butter,
which need to be examined for insect filth. To isolate the insects from the
peanut butter we use a method from the AOAC (Official Methods of Analysis of
Association of Analytical Chemist International. It works well at
separating insects from Peanut Butter. If you have access to an AOAC, you
can find the method in the 16th addition Method number 968.35 (16.4.04)
page 13. If you don't have access to it and would like a copy let me know.
I could FAX it to you (would need FAX number). The method uses among other
things Sodium Lauryl Sulfate to break up the fat in the peanut butter. The
method works very well.

*****************

You may have tried this but washing the ant/PB with a light vegetable oil
might do a good job of suspending the little peanut particles and enable you
to filter them through a mesh screen of a size slightly smaller than the ant
in question. This might get rid of the worst of the gunk. Then you could
use histoclear or other solvents if needed. If you had a large surface
light colored mesh you might even be able to directly pick the ants off the
mesh. Though I've never heard of this use one might try using oil in an
ultrasonic cleaner bath to suspend the PB.

*****************

Perhaps a paleoentomological technique (which was borrowed from an
archaeological technique) would help.
Obtain screens used for sieve analysis (borrow from your university's
geology department or purchase from a forestry supplier). They are
available in a wide range from very coarse to extremely fine so you could
get what's right for your critters. Pour your thick mess in and let it
drain through. It's really just your filter paper idea with a fine screen
instead--it will be much faster. Then use Dawn dish detergent and rinse
them with a stream of water, all while in the screen pan. (From experience
I can tell you that Dawn works much better than the others.) In
paleoentomology this is used to separate sediments from kerosene and clean
them for sorting.
If this looks useful to you, you're welcome to get back to me and I can
provide more details (the reprint about the technique, catalog info about
screens, suggested screen size, etc.).

*****************

I had some old peanut butter stick samplings which had been given to me
about 2 months ago. Just now, I used 95% EtOH and could easily remove the
ants. Did you try using 95% EtOH?
There are a few factors in this situation that may be critical.
1. The peanut butter was in dry condition over the months. Perhaps you
could dry the peanut butter on the sticks in the sun or low temperature
oven or microwave.
2. The amount of peanut butter on the stick was minimal (almost a smear) ,
not a whole bob. Perhaps you could run a test to determine if the amount of
peanut butter is critical. If they attract the same amount of ants (or
nearly the same amount) perhaps using less on the stick would be better.
If you are not actually counting ants, but just seeing what species are
present, perhaps it is not critical to look at every single ant. I seem to
think that there is competiton between species, and usually you'll find
one major species on a single stick. When students spread the sticks around
a yard, especially a big yard, and mix them in a ziplock bag, you may
encounter more than one species. In samples that I looked at, I maybe
found about 3 species. Maybe all that's needed is to take representatives
of what looks different and look at these carefully.

*****************

I just got back from the Galapagos where I was helping with a
little-fire ant problem there. This may be a little late for what you are
doing, but I would recommend a cross section of vienna sausage or hot dog
to the peanut butter. You could use a tooth pick to hold it in place if
necessary or just skewer it with the chop stick. We have very good luck
attracting Wasmannia in 20-30 min with this bait.
I would also be interested in receiving additional info about the
nature of your problem and what your plans are.

*****************

>ARGENTINE ANTS MELLOW OUT IN CALIFORNIA, CONQUER STATE
>from The Los Angeles Times
>
>LA JOLLA--They are the ants that swarm your kitchen after heavy rain. The
>ants that nurture aphids that suck your garden dry. The ants that march
>relentlessly through Southern California, driving away gentler native ants
>and even lizards that stand in their way.
>
>They also are a puzzle.
>
>Just why is it these Argentine ants do so well here, colonizing the state in
>untold numbers? And what gives the two-millimeter-long ants the power to
>defeat native carpenter and harvester ants that can be 10 times their size?
>
>It may be because they are all genetically similar, a group of UC San Diego
>scientists suggest in a paper being published today. So they treat each
>other--even ants from distant colonies--as close kin.
><http://www.latimes.com/news/science/science/20000516/t000046159.html>

Dan

Wasmannia likes sliced hot dogs just as much as other attractants. We were
given this tip by Sanford Porter and recently tested it out in Marchena
Island with great success. Using this bait is a lot less messy!

Good luck

Charlotte

Aloha,

I have a rather sticky question here, which is somewhat related to a
request I sent a while back. How to efficiently extract ants from peanut
butter, while preserving specimen quality? I must develop a way to do this
quickly and completely (cannot afford to lose specimens). Let me explain
the context.

I am involved with an outreach program into GK-12 schools, where students
are enlisted to help sample for ants in their schoolyards and home
properties. We are looking for the "little fire ant" (Wasmannia
auropunctata) which has been introduced recently to the island of Hawaii.
We are trying to understand the present distribution of the ant before
eradication vs. containment decisions are made. The most effective bait
appears to be peanut butter which is placed on cut up chopsticks and laid
out in the field. Students collect the chopsticks and bring them back for
ID. The ants are frozen to kill them before bringing them in. Because the
ants sting, we want to limit contact by students--thus we ask that the
students simply bag and tag the specimens (after making observations)
instead of trying to work with live ants. Thus each student has a discrete
collection of ants, with an attached data sheet, and later we will return
to the classrooms and display each contribution on GIS maps.

Its all well and good, except the students invariably use lots of peanut
butter, and these *very small* ants get trapped in the goo. What is the
best way to extract ants from the peanut butter--quickly, effectively, and
without loss or degradation of the specimens? Because these fire ants are
small and potentially could be in any bag, we cant afford to lose any ants
to the process.

I have tried several solvents, and the most promising thus far is
"Histoclear" (distributed by Great Lakes IPM--thanks to the several
individuals who recommended the material for sticky yellow card specimen
removal). This is a solvent of fats that does not mix with water. The
histoclear dissolves the peanut butter well, and frees the ants, but then I
am left with a fatty, opaque mess with tiny ants in the suspension. Is
there a next step that will work to free the ants from the mess? I could
pour the suspension through filter paper... It may work, but this leads to
much waste of the solvent. but I guess I am looking for a silver bullet, if
there is one. Can anyone help? I would also welcome help as to different
ways to sample for the ants, if this problem with peanut butter proves
intractable. Thanks very much.

Dan

Hi all - I incorporated comments I received. I'm forwarding the
attached drafts on to Fred. -Ellen

Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\RIFAriskassessment21.rtf"
CGAPS INVASIVE SPECIES ASSESSMENT WORKSHEET

Organism type and name: Ants (Formicidae) (Does not include RIFA - RIFA has its own assessment)

Describe the risk (of having the invasive species): Very high. Already over 40 species of alien ants have established in Hawaii, several of which are very high hazards (to agriculture, biodiversity, public health). Risk of "getting" more - very high. The only ant on APHIS PPQ pest list are IFA. No federal protection measures in place for any other species on foreign imports to Hawaii. No federal quarantine/protection measures for ants on domestic imports, except the relatively ineffective IFA quarantine. Invasion pathways not well understood but likely include nonagricultural items. No HDOA authority to inspect non-agricultural imports to Hawaii. Number of State inspection staff inadequate for inspecting all incoming goods/persons. The recent discovery of the little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata) on Hawaii is proof that current prevention/early detection systems are inadequate to protect Hawaii from further ant introductions. Risk of little fire ant - very high. Already on Hawaii, has been found at one site on Kauai, and may already be on other islands.

Describe the hazard (extent of impact if risk not adequately addressed): An extremely destructive, tenacious, taxa, especially in Hawaii where there are no native ants. Hazards very high, and very diverse, due to diversity in species' natural histories. For instance: predatory ants - very high hazard to biodiversity (native invertebrates extremely susceptible to ant predation); homopteran-tending ants - very high hazard to agriculture, plant biodiversity; weaver ants (Oecophylla sp.) - a very high hazard to forest biodiversity, including mid-high elevation native rainforest (a habitat as yet uninfested by any ant species); stinging ants (such as little fire ant) - a high hazard to public health, biodiversity, and quality of life.

Describe "vision of success" for program component (PDRCEO):
(P) Prevent: 1.) all new ant introductions to the State (including those of new and already established species) from imports/persons originating outside the State; and 2.) inter-island movement of species that have restricted (by island) distributions within the State
(D) Detect: 1.) all arrivals of new species to the State; and 2.) all new arrivals to individual islands
(R) Respond: to all new (to the State or to a particular island) species introductions
(C) Control: ERADICATE all new (to the State or to a particular island) species introductions; with "highest priority" (among all invasive species, not just ants) designation given to those species assessed by Hawaii Ant Group to be most serious threat (weaver ants, little fire ant)
(E) Enforce: strictly (all laws/regulations concerning quarantine/inspection/transport of goods)
(O) Outreach to Public: the public has a good knowledge of ants in general, their non-native status in Hawaii, and potential impacts. And, a continued program established to maintain public interest/knowledge.

Describe the "elements of capacity" needed under each component of action to achieve this vision - personnel, policy, etc:

(P) Prevent:
     knowledge/analysis of pathways of introduction
     knowledge/analysis of current ant species distributions in the State
     establishment of federal policy of "no ants allowed" on any goods/persons, domestic or foreign,           entering Hawaii
     establishment of federal law giving Hawaii federal quarantine protection from mainland;           subsequent USDA inspection/protection assistance; and, with "all Formicidae" on federal           PPQ list for goods/persons entering Hawaii.
     establishment of State law giving authority to HDOA to inspect non-agricultural items
     implementation of state inspections of 1st class mail from mainland (as done in California to           goods from Hawaii)
     inspection teams at all ports of entry (QUANTIFY INSPECTORS, DOGS) armed with the           latest technologies/ant attractants (and authority) for inspecting all goods identified as           potential pathways
     regulations requiring use of latest ant retarding technologies for packaging/transporting/treating           goods entering the state from RIFA areas;
     stringent penalties for those violating import/quarantine/ant regulations;

(D) Detect:
     3 additional state survey entomologists, to conduct comprehensive annual State-wide ant surveys
     knowledgeable public (via public outreach)

(R) Respond:
     field crews - MISC and/or HDOA (pre-assigned to some crew), with those species assessed by           Hawaii Ant Group to be most serious threat taking highest priority over other projects if they           are detected on previously uninfested islands (if ISC crews assigned to it, then will need state           authority to go on private land and eradicate)
     designation of those species assessed by Hawaii Ant Group to be most serious threat as           "highest priority" for assigned field crew
     state/federal permits for use of necessary pesticides (in any potential situation) acquired prior to           any actual need (i.e. prior to any detection);
     quarantine/containment policies established prior to actual need for all "new" species
     pesticides and application equipment (and license for, and knowledge of, use by crew) acquired           prior to need

(C) Control/ERADICATION:
     HDOA emergency listing of all those species assessed by Hawaii Ant Group to be most serious           threat (emergency listing for all islands not previously infested ), or whatever designation           needed to access/treat land without owner permission, and authority of access/treat given to           designated response crew
     prior appropriation of emergency use funds for eradication of all new arrivals (to State or to           particular island
     state/federal pesticide permits on-hand
     those species assessed by Hawaii Ant Group to be most serious threat designated as highest           priority for designated field crew
     quarantine/containment policies in place for all those species assessed by Hawaii Ant Group to           be most serious threat
     
(E) Enforce:
     strict enforcement of all import/quarantine/ant regulations;
     stiff penalties for violations of regulations

(O) Outreach to Public:
     incorporation of ants-as-invaders into Hawaii science curriculum
     public service announcements, focusing on "most serious" species (TV/radio)
     Hawaii DOH notice to all licensed physicians re identifying different ant stings and collecting           information from patients regarding the circumstances in which they were received
     presentations to community/business/govt. employee groups
     distribution of pamphlets/posters/info sheets
     web page
     funding of public outreach person?

Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\ANTriskassessment11.rtf"
CGAPS INVASIVE SPECIES ASSESSMENT WORKSHEET

Organism type and name: Ant (Solenopsis invicta)

Describe the risk (of having the invasive species): Risk of "having" - high. Risk of "getting" - very high. An extremely successful invader. Has invaded over 300 million acres in the southern U.S. despite a federal quarantine. Primarily dispersed via transport of goods - hence, recent establishment of the species in California, from where huge quantities of goods are shipped to Hawaii, has increased the risk. Mated queens fly, and a single mated queen (i.e. a single stowaway) can establish a colony. If S. invicta gets to Hawaii, quick spread throughout the islands is likely via transport on shipped goods, and natural dispersal via flighted queens.

Describe the hazard (extent of impact if risk not adequately addressed): Will invade areas with temperatures above 0'F and >10" rain/yr (or <10"rain/yr but land watered/irrigated), which includes much of the state. A very high hazard to public health (at least 83 deaths, 10's -100's of thousands of sting cases annually require medical attention/treatment). A very high hazard to public safety (the ants are attracted to, and consequently damage, electrical equipment including communication, transportation, electrical distribution, and safety lighting). A very high hazard to industry (can cause electrical shorts and fires, damage electrical equipment, damage irrigation lines, compromise waste containment, and compromise cleanliness in food packaging, processing, and storage areas). A very high hazard to biodiversity (aggressive predator with broad diet that includes animals and plants), water quality (via heavy pesticide use for continued control), economy (continuous chemical treatments required in public and private areas for human/animal safety; negative effects on tourism, agriculture, livestock, outdoor recreation, utilities, and other industries; liability suits), and quality of life. Impossible to eradicate once established.

Describe "vision of success" for program component (PDRCEO):
(P) Prevent: as many introductions as humanly possible (at least until eradication techniques have been developed)
(D) Detect: all new arrivals promptly
(R) Respond: to all introductions immediately
(C) Control: ERADICATE all introductions immediately
(E) Enforce: strictly (all laws/regulations concerning quarantine/inspection/transport of goods and all action plan strategies and guidelines).
(O) Outreach to Public: the public knows what it is, what it does, why we want to do all we can to keep it out, and how to identify and report potential RIFA encounters. And, a continued program established to maintain public interest/knowledge.

Describe the "elements of capacity" needed under each component of action to achieve this vision - personnel, policy, etc:

(P) Prevent:
     immediate implementation of prevention measures listed below
          knowledge/analysis of pathways of introduction
          establishment of State law giving authority to HDOA to inspect non-agricultural items
          establishment of policy of "no ants allowed" on any goods/persons, domestic or foreign,                entering Hawaii
          establishment of federal law giving Hawaii federal quarantine protection from mainland, and                subsequent USDA inspection/protection assistance
          establishment of state inspections of 1st class mail from mainland (as done in California to                goods from Hawaii)
          rescinding of preemption clause in federal IFA quarantine regulations;
          inspection teams at all ports of entry (# OF INSPECTORS/DOGS?) armed with the latest                technologies/ant attractants (and authority) for inspecting all goods identified as potential                pathways
          regulations requiring use of latest ant retarding technologies for                packaging/transporting/treating goods entering the state from RIFA areas;
          stringent penalties for those violating import/quarantine/ant regulations;

(D) Detect:
     biannual HDOA inspections of all nurseries, using Spam or proven detection technologies (i.e.           venom baits, once developed); and increased inspection staff (6 total for State) for increased           nursery coverage
     3 additional State survey entomologists (for a total of one for each of 4 main islands) to survey           high risk areas (construction sites, landscaped sites, reports from the general public, areas           surrounding airports and cargo warehouses) using latest detection technologies
          knowledgeable public (via public outreach
     establishment of school curriculum that incorporates ant surveys by students

(R) Respond:
     field crews - MISC and/or HDOA (needs to be pre-assigned to some crew) with RIFA           eradication taking high priority over other projects if RIFA is detected (If ISC crews do it,           then will need state authority to go on private land and eradicate).
     designation of RIFA as "highest priority" for assigned field crew;
     state/federal permits for use of necessary pesticides (in any potential situation) acquired prior to           any actual need (i.e. prior to any detection);
     quarantine/containment policies established prior to actual need;
     pesticides and application equipment (and license for, and knowledge of, use by crew) acquired           prior to need;

(C) Control/ERADICATION:
     HDOA emergency listing or whatever designation needed to access/treat land without owner           permission, and authority of access/treat given to designated response crew
     prior appropriation of emergency use funds for eradication
     state/federal pesticide permits on-hand
     RIFA designated as highest priority, for designated field crew
     quarantine/containment policies in place

(E) Enforce:
     strict enforcement of all import/quarantine/ant regulations
     stiff penalties for violations of regulations

(O) Outreach to Public:
     public service announcements (TV/radio)
     Hawaii DOH notice to all licensed physicians re identifying RIFA stings
     establishment of RIFA in school curriculum
     presentations to community/business/govt. employee groups
     distribution of pamphlets/posters/info sheets
     web page

Hi Ellen:

Attached are some comments on the Ant assessment. Good job.

Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\ANTriskassessment_ed.rtf"

aloha,

Hi all - ok, so after several permutations, the "general ant" assessment
is almost identical to the RIFA one. It was definately more difficult
to do and i'm not as comfortable with the first draft of this as i was
with the RIFA one (even though they are similar). So - please - tell me
what you think of the attached! -ellen

Hi folks - attached is the draft CGAPS assessment for RIFA. Read over
(its pretty short - just two pages, really!!) and send comments.
Thanks!! -Ellen

Sorry people-- I sent the wrong attachment. The instructions I promised
before are attached.

At 03:16 PM 5/3/2000 -1000, Ellen VanGelder wrote:
>Hi dan - thanks for sending the form!! I'll send it along to the folks working
>on the Maui school curriculum. I was just wondering - did you mean to email
>us a copy of written instructions? Just wondering cause you mentioned
>instructions in your messege. I hope the first round of student collecting
>goes
>well!! -ellen

Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\Ant Collection Instructions.rtf"
Instructions for Collecting Ants

*PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT TO COLLECT ANTS*

*IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC, OR YOU SUSPECT YOU MAY BE ALLERGIC, TO BEE OR WASP STINGS, PLEASE ASK FOR HELP FROM YOUR PARENTS, OR REFRAIN FROM THIS ACTIVITY COMPLETELY*

1) Do not wear loose clothing, slippers or a watch. The ants can get trapped and caught in this attire. Wear suitable clothing with short sleeves, closed toe shoes and remove your watch or jewelry, if possible.
2) Decide beforehand where you will place the chopsticks. Good places for sampling ants are beneath trees and shrubs, in or under potted outdoor plants, near garbage cans or buildings, or where you have seen ants before.
3) Although ants may nest in wet areas, they usually will not forage, or be attracted to bait, in very wet weather. Try baiting for ants when the sun is out or when it is not raining very hard, or when the forecast calls for a fair day.
4) Dip half of the chopstick in peanut butter, leaving the other half free of peanut butter. You will need to pick up the chopsticks later, so you need to grab a clean area that will be free of ants. You do not need very much peanut butter! Just a light coating will be enough to attract ants, if they are present.
5) Place stick on or into the ground at a suitable location. Peanut butter should be in contact with the ground.
6) Wait 2-4 hours before collecting chopsticks. Ants need time to find the baits and recruit nestmates.
7) Before picking up a chopstick, first observe closely. Do you see ants or other arthropods? What do they look like? How do they more around? Then carefully pick up chopstick and drop into ziploc bag. If you have captured ants, please seal the bag between collections so that ants cannot escape.
8) When you are finished collecting chopsticks, completely fill out the data sheet (see example at right), drop it inside the ziploc bag with the chopsticks, and put the whole package into the freezer for at least one hour or until you take your sample into class.
9) Return the package to your teacher. We will identify the ants for you and return to your class to present your data.
Remember: do not be disappointed if you do not find ants! Because alien little fire ants in Hawaii are considered threats to our unique environment, we hope we do not find many ants! Ants or no ants, the
information is very important-you have contributed scientific data towards our conservation biology project! Thank you for your assistance!

Hi all, thus far, I have four classes out collecting ants. Attached please
find the instructions I have used for this procedure, but first I go
through it with the students and then demonstrate in the schoolyard. Before
class I lay out some PB chopsticks and then we collect them as a class, and
I show them how to do it safely. I really expect no problems with stinging.
The process is too easy.

Anyway, your comments are welcome on the enclosed. I thought I might add a
blurb about keeping pets locked up during the survey, especially goats,
chickens, dogs....

To insure the students arent carrying around a bunch of live ants which may
escape and wreak havoc, I instructed them to deposit the bags in the
freezer. The trouble comes with extracting the ants from frozen peanut
butter later. Any ideas about how to better do this?

Thanks
dan
Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\ant collection forms.rtf"

Hi all - Dont know if Terry sent this to all on the antlist. Here it
is, just in case. -ellen

SEE
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 13:22:06 -0500
From: Terrence McGlynn

Howdy All,

Thanks for the many replies that you all sent in response to my query about
Paratrechina longicornis and its inquilinous Lathridiid Coluocera maderae
beetle. You are such an active and welcoming group, that I consider myself
fortunate to know of you.

To that end, I wanted to see whether any of you would be both interested and
able to go collecting sometime during that week of 29 May - 2 June. I'll be
mostly staying on Oahu, and as such will probably have to confine most of my
collecting there.

Any interest?

JDB

*************************
James A. Danoff-Burg, Ph.D.
Center for Environmental Research and Conservation
Columbia University
MC 5557
1200 Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10027

518-478-0773 (primary)
212-854-0149 (secondary)
518-330-4488 (cell)
jdb@cerc.columbia.edu
*************************

Hi all - LLoyd sent an email earlier containing a word document of
Hawaii Ant Group comments on the USDA fire ant quarantine. He mentioned
in the email that this document needs to be sent out no later than this
friday. Actually, I will be gone for the week after tomorrow and I will
be the one FedEx'ing the document. So, I need to mail the document
TOMORROW (wednesday). I would like to have all comments by tomorrow at
noon. If I have not recieved comments from you by then, I'll assume you
are ok with the draft Lloyd emailed to us last night. Sorry for the
rush/short notice, but there is not much I can do about it. Lloyd's
draft pretty much addresses what he mentioned yesterday at the meeting -
the comments we asked him to put into writing as official "Ant Group
comments", so I assume it should'nt be too much of a problem if some of
us don't get a chance to look at it before it goes out. But if you do
have a moment, please review it (its less than one page long), and let
me know what you think asap. Thanks -ellen
--
Ellen VanGelder

Looks good to me too.

I would suggest putting it on Hawaii Ant Group letterhead to emphasize that
we are an independent group with members coming from several agencies. It
may add more clout. Since there is no official letterhead I would suggest
making one up for now, adding c/o (your UH-PCSU address below it). Maybe
later, we can design an official letterhead with Gordon's help and perhaps
even include a logo, email address, and website.

Bernarr

Lloyd - Looks good to me (except for a couple minor typos). Since it will be
coming from the ant group via me, do you think UH -PCSU letterhead would be
appropriate, or should I make an ant-group one? -ellen

Dear Hawaii Ant Group collegues --

At our meeting in Honolulu this morning I was given the task of drafting
a possible response to the USDA's request for comments on what to do
about the Red Imported Fire Ant federal quarantine. I've gotten some
thoughts down (see attachment, docket.doc), but am not at all wedded to
them. Please respond via the listserver ASAP with your incisive
suggestions on how to make it better. (We need to get this off via
express mail no later than Friday, April 28.)

Thanks,

Lloyd

Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\docket.doc":

April 26, 2000

To: Docket No. 00-008-1
Regulatory Analysis and Development
PPD, APHIS, Suite3C03
4700 River Road
Riverdale, MD 20737-1238

From: Hawaii Ant Group
c/o E. VanGelder
University of Hawaii, Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit
P.O. Box 369
Makawao, HI 96768

The Hawaii Ant Group has been meeting for nearly a year. Our most active participants are biologists from Bishop Museum, Hawaii Department of Agriculture, University of Hawaii, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Geological Survey. Our purpose is to work toward better prevention and management of ant invasions in Hawaii and the Pacific islands.

Oceanic island ecosystems in general and the Hawaiian Islands in particular are highly susceptible to damages caused by humans and the alien animals and plants they bring with them. Because of their evolution in relative isolation and in the absence of many forces shaping continental organisms, ecosystems of the Hawaiian Islands are particularly vulnerable to invasion by alien species from continents. More native species have been eliminated in Hawaii than anywhere else in the United States and most places in the world. Although habitat destruction has been an important cause of extinction and endangerment, the introduction of alien species has contributed in a major way in the past and is now the predominant cause of biodiversity loss in Hawaii. The fauna and flora of the Hawaiian Islands as well as that of some other Pacific islands evolved in the absence of ants; the highly endemic fauna is extremely vulnerable to ant predation. Although nearly 40 species of invasive ants have reached Hawaii to date, high-elevation areas and rain forests are still largely ant free.

A primary focus of Hawaii ant group is to work toward an effective program for prevention of establishment of the Red Imported Fire Ant (Solenopsis invicta). RIFA reached southern California sometime before its discovery in 1998. It is still sparse in California, but is very likely to invade most of that state ­ a situation which would pose an immense threat to Hawaii, since Hawaii depends on California for most of its imported goods. If S. invicta reaches Hawaii, it would very likely be devastating to biodiversity, agriculture, tourism and quality-of-life in Hawaii. Wetland birds would be decimated. It is likely that S. invicta would invade most non-rainforest natural areas, even ant-free high-elevation areas such as Haleakala Crater, with a locally endemic arthropod fauna highly vulnerable to ant predation.

Until now, Hawaii has been blessed with a high quality of life for residents and a reputation as a vacation paradise largely free of unpleasant assaults from nature. We do not yet have a formal economic analysis, but can make a conservative guess that fire ant establishment could cost Hawaii $50-100 million annually from lost tourism revenues and control costs.

Frankly, we are uncertain as to whether action (1) or action (2) would be better for Hawaii. Option (1) has some attractiveness, since it seems to recognize a responsible role for USDA in helping to protect still vulnerable regions/ecosystems in the U.S. that are still free of RIFA. We are uncomfortable with asking that a federal quarantine on the RIFA be removed. However, it is unclear to us how the current USDA RIFA quarantine helps Hawaii. Hawaii is a state with a unique situation in which the USDA spends $12 million per year in Hawaii to protect mainland agriculture from foreign pests arriving at the Port of Honolulu and to enforce a federal quarantine to protect mainland agriculture from invasive pests established in Hawaii. USDA spends nothing to protect Hawaii from mainland pests. We would be very grateful for USDA assistance in preventing the RIFA from establishing in Hawaii through assault from numerous pathways California.

Option (2) also has some attractiveness. Though it "would reduce federal resource requirements," it seems to possibly leave some room for Hawaii to enact the more stringent requirements needed to close unadressed or inadequately addressed pathways. The concept of "harmonizing quarantines" is a bit unsettling to us, however. What Hawaii needs desperately is sound advice from USDA in how to best deal with the "preemption" issue, and how to find authority to do what is necessary to keep the Red Imported Fire Ant out of Hawaii.

Now that the RIFA has reached the Pacific Rim in California, it would seem that the U.S. has a moral obligation to do what can be done to prevent this infamous pest from spreading to highly vulnerable islands throughout the Pacific and to Asia. Helping Hawaii, the 50th state, protect its economic and environmental base would seem a good place for USDA to start such a good faith effort.

Hi:

I've sent this email to you if you work on invasive or non-native ant
species. I'm working on building a directory of researchers for my
invasive and non-native ant website: www.acusd.edu/~tmcglynn/exotic.htm

Please send me your information for the directory if you work on a
non-native ant species.

Please give me the following information, in the following categories:
1. Name
2. Research interests (in the format of key words, rather than sentences)
3. email
4. post address and phone
5. website URL (if you have one)

A directory isn't useful unless it's comprehensive; I won't include the
directory on the non-native ant site until I get at least a few dozen names
up. If I missed someone, please pass this mail on. (I have probably
missed some international colleagues and grad students, as I've used my
own contacts plus the IUSSI North American section mailing list.)

cheers,
terry

Terrence P. McGlynn
Department of Biology
University of San Diego
5998 Alcal· Park
San Diego, CA 92110
tmcglynn@acusd.edu
http://www.acusd.edu/~tmcglynn/

Address until 1 August 2000:
Department of Biology
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg, PA 17325
office: 717-337-6167
fax: 717-337-6666

Aloha Charlotte and Lazaro:

Great to hear from you! I agree 100 percent - we should definately work together
to try to eliminate this ant from our archipelagos! We are indeed aware of the
problems Wasmannia has caused in the Galapagos islands, and that the ant was
eradicated on Santa Fe, using Amdro. The folks at the Hawaii Department of
Agriculture (HDOA) are using Amdro at some of the Wasmanni infested sites
here. So far Wasmannia has only been found on two islands: Kauai and Hawaii.
HDOA may well have been successful at eradicating the ant from the Kauai site
using Amdro. They will do follow-up work to confirm this. The infestation on
the island of Hawaii, however, is much more extensive. I believe HDOA has found
15 infested sites so far on the east side of the island. The problem we face
right now is that the infested areas include orchards, and, as I believe Pat
Conant (of HDOA) mentioned to you in a past email, according to the Amdro
label, farmers cannot harvest fruit from Amdro treated areas for a year. As
this would cause hardship to farmers, HDOA will be trying an IGR (Extinguish,
formulated with the IGR methoprene) on infested orchards. Hopefully this
treatment will have good results.

We will be very interested to hear about your Marchena program, and how it works
out. Do you plan to use Amdro again? Keep us posted. We will definately post
the minutes of the meeting on the antlist, and look forward to your
contributions to the antlist discussions! aloha, Ellen

Dear all

Myself and Lazaro Roque, at the Charles Darwin Research Station have been
silent members of the ant working group list server for the past few months
reading with interest about your problems with Wasmannia auropunctata. As
you all probably know, this ant is probably the most aggressive species that
has been introduced into the Galapagos archipelago. Arrriving in the
archipelago between 1910-1920, it first colonized Santa Cruz. Since then,
it has become established in San CristÛbal, Isabela, Floreana,
Santiago,Santa Fe, Pinzon and Marchena. Wasmannia auropunctata has been
successfully eradicated from Santa Fe and we are just about to initiate an
eradication programs in Marchena with the help of Sanford Porter.

We would be very interested in hearing about the outcome of your meeting and
hope it will be published on the list server. We would also be interested in
contributing to any discussions that come up about Wasmannia auropunctata
and hope by working together that we are successful in reducing the numbers
of these species from our archipelagos.

Saludos

Charlotte Causton

> Hi all - We have lots to cover in the Monday meeting. The updated
> agenda:

1. CGAPS plan
2. USDA red imported fire ant quarantine comment period
3. Red imported fire ant update - info from the conference
4. Presentations for the Conservation Conference
5. Fire ant public education: Wasmannia (I don't think Dan will be able
to make the meeting, but might be able to give us a written summary of the
outreach efforts so far); options for red imported fire ant
6. Wasmannia update

Tim's wwwebsite is up and running. See you Monday. f

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 10:10:52 -0500
From: Terrence McGlynn <tmcglynn@acusd.edu>
To: Aliens-L@indaba.iucn.org
Subject: non-native ant website

Invasive species folks:

I've created a website about non-native ants, available from my site at
http://www.acusd.edu/~tmcglynn.

This site provides information about the known non-native ant species.
These data will hopefully facilitate research on these animals, and also
serve as a resource for up-to-date information about ongoing invasions.
There is currently a detailed page for one significant invader, Wasmannia
auropunctata. In time, I will develop and maintain pages for other
invaders, such as Fire ants and Argentine ants.

I'd like for this type of information to be more easily accessed by the
web. I encourage those with an interest to either develop their own pages,
or to share links and information with me to contribute to my existing
site. Likewise, comments on what you like to see (or don't want to see)
are welcome.

Terry McGlynn

If you wish to send a reply to this message, to be read by all members of the list, you may just hit the Reply button in your e-mail program (This does NOT WORK when reading a Digest!). ATTENTION Please: if the message to which you reply is long, please delete as much of it from your reply as possible to reduce message lengths for other List subscribers. Thank You.

To contact the list owners: aliens-l-owner@indaba.iucn.org

Ok all - the meeting is the 24th, 9:00am. Same place. Pete, Pat, shall
we meet at airport and share cab? -ellen

Okay folks - it looks like the 1st won't work well either. I think we
should go with the 24th. Sorry about the shuffling back and forth, but
i was just trying to arrange it so that everyone could attend (which
doenst seem to be possible at this point). -ellen

Hi all - there are some conflicts with the 24th. Would Monday May 1st
(or poss. may 2) work?

Hi all - as per the email from Pete on Friday, we'll go with Monday the
24th (same time same place) for the next meeting. Things i'd like to
include on the agenda:
1. USDA red imported fire ant quarantine (the federal program is being
reviewed and comments are being accepted). If you'd like to read the
notice prior to the meeting you can get it from the federal
register/vol.65, no. 42/ Thursday March 2, 2000/notices on the FR
website. Or, ask me to fax you a copy.
2. Red imported fire ant update - info from the conference
3. Presentations for the Conservation Conference
4. Fire ant public education: update on Dans k-12 project with
Wasmannia (if Dan can make the meeting); options for red imported fire
ant
5. Wasmannia update

Any other items folks want added?

Thanks Pete - sounds good to me.

I suggest that unless anyone comes forward with a major objection that
we go with April 24 for the next meeting.

A non-response will be considered agreement.

Hi Pete - we discussed this a little at past meetings, but didnt come up with
conclusive plans (I'm hoping to give at least one talk on imported fire ants).
I think Dave Duffy is contemplating a panel session on potential new (nasty)
invasions (like asian long horn beetle) in which ant stuff could be
incorporated. If we have our next meeting on the 24th or 25th we could nail
down specifics, and still have a bit of time to get abstracts/proposals in to
Nancy Glover. How does that sound (i.e. putting HCC presentations onto agenda
of next meeting)?

Again folks - hows the morning of April 24th (or 25th?) sound for the next
meeting? -ellen

Aloha Terrence,

Its great that you are thinking of working on our lovely ant species out
here, good luck with the grants. Ellen gave you the best contact numbers
for Wasmannia people, but I thought I would briefly share my project with
Wasmannia out here. It is an outreach project in GK-12 schools on East
Hawaii island where populations of Wasmannia are mostly found. I am going
in to schools (high schools and intermediate schools thus far) and giving a
curriculum and alien species. Kids are learning how to sample ants with
peanut butter chopsticks and returning samples to me for analysis. We plan
to generate an extensive distribution map from backyard locations all over
the potential range of the ants. Since the ants are small and
inconspicuous, this may be the best way to locate satellite populations
that were possibly transported around in the nursery trade. HDOA will then
evaluate this information and decide which control or eradication measures
are most appropriate.

For more info, please consult the GK-12 project webpage (still under
construction) and go to my page:
http://www.hawaii.edu/gk-12/evolution/

Thanks for the link to the non-native ant site--this is a nice resource
that I plan to link to our activities.

Good luck, and please contact me with any further questions or input.

Aloha
dan

Hi--I could *possibly* do the morning of the 24th, but not the 25th.
Neither date is ideal, but I suspect that is the case for most of us, for
any date. Thanks
dan

Hi all - how about the morning of the 24th or 25th for the next meeting?
-ellen

Terrence,

I am currently working on Argentine ants on Mauna Kea, Hawaii Island.
We are currently tracking the distribution of these and the other ants
(5 species total) along the saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.
This month we will begin sampling the ground fauna inside and outside
of ant infested areas. Later we will attempt to control ants and
monitor the effect on the ground fauna (possibly the veg fauna as
well).

Aloha,

Pete

Hi Terrence - I work at Haleakala National Park on ant research (Argentine
ants) and alien ant issues in Hawaii. I'm happy to hear you are interested in
doing some work on Argentines and Wasmannia in Hawaii! What type of research do
you have in mind? The "best" person to talk to might depend on the focus of
your project. I'm fairly knowledgeable about the Argentine ant in Hawaii, and
you are welcome to call me (ph 808-572-4472). We dont know much about
Wasmannia here yet - still trying to figure out how extensive the invasion is.
The best person to talk to about that would be one of the entomologists with
Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Neil Reimer is their ant person (ph.
808-586-0894), and Pat Conant is the entomologist on the island of Hawaii that
is heading up the field work - delimiting the population, initiating control on
properties where found, etc - Pat has the most up-to-date distribution
information (ph. 808-974-4140). I look forward to hearing about your
research. -Ellen
P.S. Can you send me a reprint of your 1999 article in J.Biogeo 26:535-548?
Great alien ant web page!

Hi ant-listers:

I thought it'd be best to write to the whole list, rather than a selected
people.

I'm currently writing a grant to work on Argentine ants and Wasmannia.
Ideally, this would involve some work in Hawaii. I was wondering who is
the best person to talk to about this project in more detail?

I should also let you know tabout my non-native ant database, currently at
http://www.gettysburg.edu/~tmcglynn, to keep track of where in vaders are
throughout the world. Soon this website will move to it's permanent spot
at www.acusd.edu. I haven't formally announced it yet because it's not at
it's permanent home. This URL also has my pubs and current projects, too.
I will be sure to link to all of your pages in the coming week in the
non-native ant pages, as I continually need to update it.

cheers,
terry

Terrence P. McGlynn
Assistant Professor of Biology
Gettysburg College
Gettysburg, PA 17325
office: 717-337-6167
fax: 717-337-6666
tmcglynn@gettysburg.edu
http://www.gettysburg.edu/~tmcglynn

Address after 1 August 2000:
Department of Biology
University of San Diego
5998 Alcal· Park
San Diego, CA 92110

FYI--

Jim Wetterer has an article on W. auropunctata:

Wetterer JK, PD Walsh, and LJT White. 1999. Wasmannia auropunctata
(Roger) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a destructive tramp-ant in
wildlife refuges of Gabon. African Entomology 7(2):292-294.

It's mostly just distribution documentation and some anecdotal
evidence of impacts.

Lori

Anters,

I see that Nancy Glover has sent out a call for presentations for this
year's HCC. Has there already been a discussion regarding ant
presentations? Any thoughts on this?

Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 13:20:49 -1000
From: Ellen VanGelder <evangeld@hawaii.edu>
To: Dan Gruner <dgruner@hawaii.edu>,
"(Ant Working Group)" <antlist@bishopmuseum.org>
Subject: Re: next meeting

Dan - sounds like life is hectic for you (I understand the difficulties of inter
island commuting!). I guess i was hoping to schedule the meeting when you could
make it because we are trying to get a somewhat similar thing (with wasmannia in
curriculum) going with the Maui schools, as you're doing with big island - and it
seemed like it would be good to get an update on your approach/plans, etc with
the k-12 project. At the meeting in Feb. you were in initial stage of developing
a proposal. Maybe if you cant make the meeting you could email that to me if you
have it, so I'll have it for next meeting? Anyway, i'm gone til the 11April,
so scheduling the next meeting probably wont happen til after then. aloha, ellen

Dan Gruner wrote:

> Ellen,
>
> I fly to Honolulu on a weekly basis, and that is very taxing. I am not
> anxious to make it twice a week, thus I also cannot make it on wednesday
> the 26th. I suggested the 24th because I will be in Honolulu for the
> entire weekend, so could stay for another morning. But to get right down
> to it, i would rather not do that either. Time is at a huge premium right
> now. Thus, I suggest you schedule the meeting for whatever is best for you
> and other folks, and i will come if I can. Most likely I wont be able to
> come, but life goes on. Thanks.
>
> Dan
>
> PS after the GK-12 school year is out, life will look a lot brighter and
> more open, I hope! 

Flights might be a little difficult to get on the 24th (its a monday morning
following a 3-day weekend), but maybe not. How about the 26th (wed.)?

James,

I have collected P. longicornis at the following locations:

Oahu
Aiea heights loop trail (on vegetation near stream bed)
Manoa Valley, along sidewalk of University Ave @ Highway overpass
Kahana State Park, along road/parking lot
Kauai
Opaekaa Falls, on rockwall along road where river passes under
Hawaii
Kealakekua Bay, at the Captain Cook monument

Oddly enough, my fewest specimens are from the island I live on (Big
Island)- I know there must be many more locations here. I would be
happy to get in the field with you (if I can swing the time).

Pete

I cant make it at that time, but I am just one person. April 24 at the
same time, however, would work for me, unless that is a holiday?

Hi all - How about Monday April 17 (9am, same place) sound for next
meeting? I leave tomorrow (friday) afternoon til 12 April, so hopefully
i'll hear from you tomorrow? -ellen

Hi:

Sorry I forgot to cc. this to the list. This was my response to James
Danburg a few days ago.

Neil

"Hi James:

You're email was forwarded to me by Frank Howarth. I can answer some of
you're questions. P. longicornis can be found on all of the main Hawaiian
Islands. These include Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii. The ant
can most easily be found in the drier leeward sides of all islands (i.e.
the West side of the islands). If you want, I would be glad to meet with
you and show you on a map various areas where I have collected it. I'm not
sure if I'd be able to accompany you to the field during you're visit. I
have never looked for any inquilines for this species.

You do not need any permits for collecting unless you go into forest
reserves or National Parks.

Hope this helps."

Neil Reimer

James, I cannot help you with the ant or beetle, and like Lori, I also
collected bourbonica but not longicornis in several locations in Hawaii
National Park. However, you will need permits to collect, and you should
contact Wayne Ching at the state offices to get this rolling:

wayne_f_ching@exec.state.hi.us
808-587-4173

good luck

James,

I don't know if this will be helpful to you-in my collecting
in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, I have found Paratrechina
bourbonica to be much more common than P. longicornis. I believe I
found P. longicornis at only one site in the park (I don't have my
field notes with me). I could give you additional information on
where I've found P. longicornis when I have access to my field notes
in a few weeks, if you're interested.

Lori

Fellow anters,

Perhaps one of you would be interested in helping this fellow with
his research.

Frank

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2000 11:42:52 EST
From: Jdanburg@aol.com
To: fhowarth@bishop.bishop.hawaii.org
Subject: Paratrechina longicornis in Hawaii

Dr. Howarth,

I am in the process of beginning a project looking at the effects of
Coluocera maderae, an inquilinous Lathridiid, on its normal host ant
Paratrechina longicornis (the crazy ant). As with every where here in the
states, the ant has invaded disturbed habitats in Hawaii. However, the
beetle has been found in great numbers on Maui by David Kistner some time
ago. The beetle has not been collected in very many locations in the
continental US, at least among the places that I have been thus far been able
to investigate.

I am writing to ask a favor of you, if it would be possible. I will be
coming to Hawaii to begin this project, from the 28th of May to the 4th of
June of this year. Before coming I would like to know where the beetle and
the ant have been collected in Hawaii, and I have searched the Bishop
Arthropod Checklist Query site. I therefore know the islands that the ants
has been collected, but don't know more specifically within the islands.
Particularly important for me would be to know the ecological location in
which the ant is usually found. Curiously, the beetle is not included in the
Checklist Query database. I will gladly deposit specimens in the Bishop
before leaving Hawaii.

Speaking of collecting, are there permits that I should begin the process of
applying for to collect in Hawaii? If so, whom should I contact?

Also, would it be possible for me to come to the museum early in that week
(the 29th or so) to quickly check the collection labels and jot down any
ecological information when I get to Hawaii? I would ask whether it would be
possible for someone there to do so, but having worked for my entire graduate
studies as a curatorial assistant in the Snow Entomological Museum at KU, I
know how over-stretched everyone probably is in the Bishop.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

James

*************************
James A. Danoff-Burg, Ph.D.,
Center for Environmental Research and Conservation
Columbia University
MC 5557
1200 Amsterdam Ave
New York, NY 10027

518-478-0773 (primary)
212-854-0149 (secondary)
518-330-4488 (cell)
212-854-8188 (fax)
jdb@cerc.columbia.edu
*************************

Hi folks:

Here's an update on Wasmannia. Pat Conant provided the information.

Bernarr
Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\Papaiwasma39.wpd"

March 9, 2000

To: Larry Nakahara

From: Patrick Conant

Subject: Wasmannia at Papaikou

On Tuesday March 7, Dan Gruner, a UH Zoology Dept. Grad student, and his student help Lia from UH Hilo, helped Clyde and I peanut butter bait most of the potted nursery stock at (delete). The Manager of the farm has told me he has applied amdro there 3 times to date. When Clyde and Kyleís crew baited the nursery with peanut butter (before amdro was ever applied), they did find Wasmannia in one corner in the fishtail palms. However, this time we found no ants at all in any of the potted plants on the saran ground cover. We did detect some on the up slope side border among the planted money trees and potted jaboticaba. This is a narrowl strip (about 15ft wide) of planted bushes along a fence on the mauka side. Clyde and I have treated there recently but perhaps we missed the large pots. I told him to treat that area thoroughly again. I hope it will be possible to eradicate the ants here and prevent them from being sold with the nursery stock. However, the house lot next door (mauka side) has about of the lawn infested and has only had one treatment, so we will need to do follow up applications.

Since we had help that day, we also finished up surveying the larger rambutan and Durian trees (blocks 1 and 2). No ants were detected among these, but Dan found some along the fish tail wind break (at the irrigation controller). We plan to peanut butter bait those few remaining windbreaks soon so we should have a relatively complete picture of the present ant distribution at (delete).

I have been favorably impressed with the enthusiasm of the staff at (delete) to get the ants under control. They have told me that 6 acres of the infested pasture mauka of the orchard is actually theirs so they may exclude cattle to treat it with amdro. I called Guy to get some ìextinguishî bait back to see if Wasmannia will even take it. If they do, we will map out some plots in the macnuts to do a test.

Hi folks:

Below is information that I got from Entomo-L, an entomology discussion group.

Bernarr

>Original-Encoded-Information-Types: IA5-Text
>UA-Content-Id: Re: Solenopsis i
>Autoforwarded: FALSE
>Priority: Normal
>Importance: Normal
>Sensitivity: Personal
>X-Mailer: Worldtalk (NetJunction 4.6-supplement)/MIME
>Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 06:58:36 -0600
>Reply-To: Entomology Discussion List <ENTOMO-L@LISTSERV.UOGUELPH.CA>
>Sender: Entomology Discussion List <ENTOMO-L@LISTSERV.UOGUELPH.CA>
>From: Anne-Marie A Callcott <Anne-Marie.A.Callcott@USDA.GOV>
>Subject: Re: Solenopsis invicta vs the California real estate market.
>To: ENTOMO-L@LISTSERV.UOGUELPH.CA
>
>For information on imported fire ants in California, go to the California
Dept. of Agric. pest update web site and click on imported fire ants:
www.cdfa.ca.gov/pests/updates/. This site has general information on IFA
as well as what the state of Calif. is doing to control the ants.
>
>
>Anne-Marie Callcott

> scanned from Science News 5 Feb 2000

> WHEN ANTS SQUEAK
>
>If you haven't stuck an ant in your ear recently, don't write the insect
>off as the strong, silent type.
>
>Many species make tiny squeaks that people can hear if they hold an ant
>close enough. The rich chemical communication of ants has claimed more
>attention from scientists in recent decades, but a small band of
>researchers has been sorting out ant sounds.
>Biologists have long realized that ants can hear with their knees, picking
>up vibrations humming through leaves or nests or even the ground. In the
>past 20 years, researchers interpreting the messages that thrum in
>substrates have revealed a sort of ant-ernet, zinging with communiqu6s
>about lost relatives, great food, free rides for hitchhikers, caterpillars
>in search of ant partners, and impending doom. Improvements in recording
>equipment are expanding the range of ant chirps and buzzes available to
>human eavesdroppers. Some scientists are even challenging decades of
>textbook truths and suggesting that ants might also be able to detect
>certain kinds of airborne sounds.
>For almost a century, naturalists have considered ants practically deaf to
>sounds traveling through the air but exquisitely responsive to vibrations.
>The noises that ants seem to make intentionally, drummings and fast
>stridulatory scrapings of roughened body parts, can buzz through
>substrates easily
>
>Drumming, also called body rapping, turns up most often in species with
>wood or dried-pulp nests. For example, when a carpenter ant nest gets
>disturbed, workers rock furiously back and forth so their mandibles in
>front and their hindmost body part wham against the nest. An ant pounds
>the nest in a burst, up to seven thumps at 50-millisecond intervals.
>
>The other obvious ant sound, the squeak that people can sometimes detect,
>comes from stridulation. This high pitched rasping of one surface against
>another occurs frequently in animals, most famously among cicadas,
>katydids, and crickets but also catfish and, some scientists argue, sea
>horses.
>
>Ants stridulate with the hindmost body section, the gaster, explains
>systematist Philip Ward at the University of California, Davis. The gaster
>is made up of segments, one of which bears a ridged patch. Its nearest
>neighbor sports a file-like rasping widget. The segments remind Ward of
>the nested tubes of a telescope. "Imagine the meeting edges scratching a
>bit as they move in and out," he says.
>
>Residents of the southwestern United States can hear stridulatory concerts
>by picking up red desert ants, suggests Ward. In the Northeast, the less
>common but hefty Myrmica species also squeak audibly when plucked up by a
>human hand.
>
>Ants in four subfamilies stridulate, but others seem silent and don't have
>recognizable scraping surfaces, Ward notes. Entomologists argue about
>whether this pattern means stridulation evolved several times in ants or
>whether the Adam and Eve of ant ancestors rasped to each other but some
>descendants lost the ability.
>
>Leaf cutting Atta cephalotes ants often make noises while they work,
>generating the sound by rasping a file like widget on one body segment
>against a specialized rough spot on a neighboring segment
>Here, two ants are cutting a leaf as smaller nest mates loiter
>
>In the 1970s, pioneering studies of these ant scratchings showed that they
>boosted the listening ants' response to the pheromone signals indicating
>that dinner or a nest site is available.
>Stridulation also seems to summon rescuers after a nest cave-in. Hubert
>Markl of the University of Konstanz in Germany reported that leaf-cutter
>workers converged at a spot where nestmates were trapped 5 centimeters
>down in well packed soil. If the workers were buried only 3 cm below
>ground, nest mates not only milled around the spot but dug toward the
>pinned ants.
>Stridulation can also signal "stop already" from a female Pogonomyrmex
>whose sperm-storage organ can't hold any more. Ants don't make this
>stridulation during the earlier courtship, MarkI reports, and the
>distinctive sound benefits both sexes by reducing time- and energy-wasting
>activity.
>
>One of the more unusual notions about stridulation arose in 1995 when
>Flavio Roces and Bert Hlldobler of the University of W¸rzburg in Germany
>reported that leaf-cutting ants tend to stridulate as they slice off snip
>pets of tender leaves. The vibrations make their jaws buzz as they rip
>through plant tissue (SN: 11/26/94, p. 358). Could ants have evolved the
>electric knife?
>
>However, offering ants both prime leaves and chemically tainted ones
>revealed that workers stridulate more on desirable than less-favored
>leaves, regardless of any differences in the toughness of the cutting task.
>
>Buzzing jaws do make smoother cuts, the researchers found, but don't
>improve speed or efficiency. The scientists now look to communication
>instead of cutting enhancement as the driving force behind the evolution
>of ant humming. "The electric knife is a wonderful epiphenomenon," as
>Hlldobler puts it, sounding a little wistful.
>
>The same line of research on leaf-cutter stridulation revealed a related
>function: an invitation to hitchhikers. When the ants forage, the smallest
>workers, or minims, swarm along even though they're too little to do any
>cutting. They scurry around the cutting site or stand nearby with
>mandibles open and antennae outstretched. Many don't walk back to the nest
>on their own but literally hitchhike on the loads carried by the bigger
>ants.
>
>Despite the appearance of frivolous gawking, the little hitchhikers
>provide a useful service. Somehow, they discourage attacks from phorid
>flies. These parasites swoop onto leaf-cutters and inject an egg, which
>hatches and chews through the ant's innards, finishing with the brain and
>leaving a headless corpse.
>
>Roces and Hlldobler noted that cutters stridulate extra fast when they
>come to the end of their task and heave the leaf fragment into carrying
>position. When the researchers artificially vibrated a leaf, it attracted
>more hitchhikers than a leaf without an experimental buzz. The scientists
>suggest that the tiny bodyguards find their rides by listening for the
>stridulation.
>Ants listen for more than the buzz of their own kind, as Phil DeVries of
>the University of Oregon in Eugene shows with his singing caterpillars.
>The larvae of many species of two butterfly groups, lycaenids and
>riodinids, sport glands that ooze a sweet liquid of interest to ants. As
>the ants collect the bounty, they discourage attacks from the
>caterpillars' predators.
>
>DeVries found that caterpillars advertise their delicious presence with
>vibrations that ants can detect along quivering plant stems and leaves.
>He's recorded a considerable variety of these caterpillar calls, ranging
>>from a sound, he says, like "bub ... bub. . ." to fancier noises such is
>"beep ah ah ah beep" and "biddup ...ddup biddup.
>DeVries has also investigated whether hooked ovipositor of a phorid fly,
>caterpillars can fake ant sounds. The Malinea butterflies would have good
>reason
>to do so, he reasons. Very young Nestmates too small to manage any heavy
>cutting get a free trip back to the nest. They aren't just useless weight
>since they reduce the risk of attack by phorid flies. Hitchhikers find
>rides in part by vibrations from the stridulation noises the cutters make.
>
>Very young caterpillars topple off food plants. They lie there wiggling
>and making noises until picked up by roving ants. Perhaps a little dim
>about taxonomy the ants bring a fallen caterpillar back to their nest and
>tuck it into the brood chamber. They don't seem to object as the newcomer
>eats some of the young ants that are its nurserymates.
>
>When the caterpillar finally matures,two ant species recognize their
>mistake and kill the freeloader, but a third ant leaves it unharmed. For
>the caterpillar, "there's strong selection to attract the right ant."
>When DeVries compared the sounds made by the caterpillars and ants, he
>found that despite their overall differences, "some components of the
>caterpillar calls were dead on."
>People don't do anywhere as well as caterpillars in communicating with
>ants. Shouting at an ant is a bit like shouting at a computer or a cat.
>You may not see any sign that you've been heard.
>
>"Ants don't respond to sound on a human scale," says Robert Hickling of
>the National Center for Physical Acoustics at the University of
>Mississippi in Oxford. That quirk, he argues, has hobbled the study of ant
>acoustics for a century.
>Ants may not pick sounds of stridulations out of the air as people do,
>but-in theory at least-ants may respond to airborne vibrations if
>scientists make the right noise.
>"it all started with the sensor," remembers Peng Lee, an acoustical and
>electrical engineer who works with Hickling. In the mid-1990s Lee was
>struggling to make a device sensitive enough to detect the dreaded pink
>bollworm just by listening for the sounds of larvae munching.
>His early version succeeded miserably well. In a field test on an Israeli
>kibbutz, the device picked up so many faraway tractors and planes that the
>technological din drowned out any bollworms.
>
>As Lee tinkered with the oversensitive gizmo back in Mississippi, lab
>conversa tion drifted to speculation on whether fire ants make noises and
>what they'dsound like if they did.
>
>Two decades earlier, researchers in thelaboratory of Walter R. Tschinkel
>of Florida State University in Tallahassee had used less elaborate
>equipment to try tocapture sounds from the imported black .2& fire ant and
>others in the genus Solenopsis. The experiment yielded scratchy sounds
>>from one of the black fire ant's larger relatives, but the invader itself
>revealed nothing that the scientists could record.
>
>Lee and Hickling took their new sensor out to the nearest mound of black
>fire ants and poked in the probe. "There was a big uproar," Hickling says.
>"You could hear individual ants as they passed by the microphone."
>In other experiments, the team collected the noise of some important
>episodes in ant life. For instance, the scientists provided a caterpillar
>and eavesdropped on its demise. With such a sensitive acoustic view, they
>recorded more than the ants' sounds. "You could hear the caterpillar
>struggling," Hickling says. "I felt sorry for it."
>
>They also recorded two colonies clashing. The thumps and thuds of
>activity, however, drowned out any stridulations from the contending
>armies. "The sound of the struggle tended to be quite loud," Hickling
>notes. Lee adds another tribulation: "I got stung a lot."
>The researchers also brought a fire ant indoors, but the recording session
>did not turn out to be easy They didn't know how to cue the ant to make
>noises. After hours of experimentation, one of Lee's colleagues discovered
>that attaching a weight to the ant's antenna provoked a recordable sound.
>
>A debut selection of black fire ant recordings are available at a special
>antsound Web site, http://home.olemiss. edu/-hickling. The site has
>already attracted a query from a Hollywood screenwriter, Lee notes.Picking
>a relatively tranquil moment for the fire ant mound, the researchers
>played back recordings of the pandemonium in the colony. "I was expecting
>them to get all upset," Hickling recounts. However, the colony showed no
>sign of a response. "I had to backtrack somewhat," Lee understates.
>Other scientists have interpreted ants' apparent lack of response to
>sounds that interest humans as an inability to hear vibrations in the air.
>Hickling and Lee have come up with another possibility. Ants might hear
>only what acousticians call "near-field sound."
>A tiny source like an ant that makes long sound waves creates a special
>effect in the first few centimeters of the emission, Hickling explains.
>Such nearfield sound decays not as the inverse of distance from the source
>but as the inverse of distance squared. An ant might respond only to this
>kind of sound, he suggests.
>"It's not easy to test," Hickling points out. To create that
>special-effects zone, the sound source has to be minute compared with the
>wavelength. Broadcasting sounds from standard speakers, even ones a few
>inches tall, won't work to study this kind of hearing.
>
>Hickling and Lee are trying to make an ant-size sound source. They've
>started with a source that stands a few inches high and is shielded so
>that sound blares only from the front. They added a long funnel that
>compresses the sound waves and guides them to a pinhole opening. They
>described the project at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society
>of America in Atlanta in Decemher 1999.
>
>Hlldobler notes that, so far, there's no behavioral evidence of airborne
>sound reception by the ants. He says, "There is a possibility that ants
>perceive near-field sound, or wind velocity produced by the sound wave, as
>has been shown for honey bees, but the work is preliminary as far as I can
>judge it."
>The idea of ants perceiving near-field sound strikes Tschinkel as
>"plausible." In the tight spaces inside a nest, such close range
>communication might prove useful because chemical communication can be
>difficult to modulate at close range. The possibility of near-field-sound
>communication interests Tschinkel because, he says, "it could fill a gap."
>
>Acoustic studies might eventually also fill a gap in fire ant control,
>Hickling daydreams. "You can't just put a rock band over their mound and
>they'd go away bioacoustics doesn't work like that," In, acknowledges,
>adding, "I'm not sure whether I'd rather have a rock band my yard than
>fire ants."
>In either case, shouting won't help.

Hi all - In case you know of any students who might be interested, i've
attached our announcement for summer volunteer positions at haleakala
(the work involves helping with our argentine ant control program this
summer).
Feel free to pass on to whomever (or post wherever) you feel
appropriate. Thanks. -ellen
--
Ellen VanGelder
BRD - Haleakala National Park
P.O. Box 369
Makawao, HI 96768
ph: 808-572-4472
email: evangeld@hawaii.edu

Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\volunteers_shortversion.rtf"

Hi all - I think we should meet, as per Gordons email of Wed. Feb 16th
(noon to 1pm on Wed.23rd in the carnation room). The meeting will be
short as we only have the room for an hour. If there are no other agenda
items, it seems like a good time to briefly discuss the fire ant
prevention proposal that lloyd and I submitted to EPA. What do you
think?

Hi folks - Do we have anything in particular that we want to discuss at
this next meeting? I dont have any particular items for the agenda
-does anyone else? I know some folks arent going to be able to attend
and am just wondering if we should go ahead with the meeting or not.
(Gordon - so sorry to bring this up now instead of before you went
through the trouble of reserving a meeting place. I'll try to be more on
top of things in future.) Let me know what you all think. -ellen

Hi, Folks:
The Hawaii Ant Group has been offered meeting space during the Pacific
Entomology Conference between 12 noon and 1 PM on the second day of the
conference, Wednesday, 23 February in the Carnation Room. We are sandwiched
in between 2 symposia, but we should be able to take care of business.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Ala Moana Hotel, it is situated on the
Diamond Head end of Ala Moana Center. The meeting areas are on the second
floor. Lunch opportunities are plentiful both in the area and within the
Center itself.

Those who would like a copy of the conference program, email me and I can
forward one to you as a PDF file.

Thanks to Dr. Lynn LeBeck, the Pacific Entomology Conference coordinator
and Dr. Peter Follett, President of the Hawaiian Entomological Society for
making this arrangement possible.

Does anyone have anything items for the agenda for next weeks meeting?

>EXPLORE BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS AT OSU ON APRIL 12
>
>Invasions of nonnative species into U.S. waters, agricultural lands,
>forests, public lands and other areas are costly in terms of finances,
>environmental damage and even human health. If you=B9ve ever grubbed
>blackberries out by the roots, had a fishing spot changed by a new critter
>or watched starlings chase songbirds away, you=B9ve been affected by
>nonindigenous, invasive species. Nationally, the problem costs
>agriculturists billions of dollars a year. Globally, it poses a significant
>threat to biological diversity.
>
>"Biological Invasions! The Quiet Global Change" will explore some of the
>most recent thinking about nonindigenous, invasive species and the economic
>and ecological havoc they can cause. Researchers have been invited to Oregon
>State University to discuss questions such as:
>
>* When are nonnative species considered invasive, and do such species have
>traits in common?
>* Do habitats have characteristics that make them vulnerable to takeover?
>* How extensive are the ecological, socioeconomic and health impacts of
>nonnative population explosions?
>* When is eradication possible or worth attempting?
>* What effect will invasive species have on the course of evolution,
>biological diversity and ecological stability?
>
>You are invited to attend this one-day colloquium, hosted by Oregon Sea
>Grant, which will take place April 12 at the LaSells Stewart Center in
>Corvallis, Ore. The speaker sessions, lunch and a reception afterwards are
>free to registered guests.
>
>Please visit http://seagrant.orst.edu/colloquium/bcregister.html to register
>on-line or send your name, title, organization, any dietary or disability
>needs, surface and electronic mail addresses, and any comments to:
>
>Biological Invasions!
>c/o Christi Sheridan
>OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center
>2030 South Marine Science Drive
>Newport, OR 97365
>
>For more information, visit http://seagrant.orst.edu/colloquium or call
>Christi Sheridan at (541) 867-0369.

To all concerned:

For your information, there will be a Decision Making meeting on SB 2099
(Relating to Plant and Non-Domestic Animal Quarantine). This Senate Bill
concerns "requiring a permit for the importation of a conditionally
approved animal into the State to be granted by the DOA not more than 3
working days after the DOA receives a complete application for the permit,
including any fees. It also adds 34 insect species to the DOA's list of
conditionally approved animals." The intent is to allow commercial
importation of these parasites and predators. The bill is sponsored by
Senator Sam Slom.

The Decision Making meeting will be held by the Committee on Economic
Development on Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 4:00 pm at Conference Room
224. The decision was deferred from the February 9 meeting.

It is important to remember that NO TESTIMONY WILL BE ACCEPTED .

If this matter is of interest to you, you should express your concerns to
your favorite legislators. Provided below is a list of members of the
Economic Development Committee (ECD):

Lorraine Inouye , Chair Room 201 586-7335
Jan Yagi Buen, Vice Chair Room 204 586-7340

Marshall Ige 586-9405
Cal Kawamoto 586-6970
Brian Taniguchi 586-6460
Sam Slom 586-8420

Sincerely,

Larry Nakahara
Hawaii Department of Agriculture

Aloha all, I regret I will be unable to make it for this meeting. I trust
the minutes will be excellent, as usual; from those at least I can gain a
general understanding of the proceedings.

Dan

Hi Gordon - is the ant meeting at lunchtime on the first day (the 22nd)
of the conferencence? Havent been to one of these meetings before - is
there a scheduled/catered lunch? or is there somewhere good to meet
where we can grab some food? -ellen

Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 09:36:59 -1000
From: Ellen VanGelder <evangeld@hawaii.edu>
To: Bernarr Kumashiro <bkumash@elele.peacesat.hawaii.edu>
Subject: Re: Fed. Quarantine Interceptions

Hi Bernarr: I would indeed like copies of those lists, if possible. You can
fax them to 808-572-1304. This is the general-use fax at Park Headquarters, so
my name needs to be on the front page. Thanks!

FYI - Lloyd, Fred Krauss and I toured the Honolulu airport's USDA inspection
system on friday, with Jim Kosciuk (of USDA). A very impressive system!
Anyway, at the meeting Jim told us about the type of data they collect on
interceptions, and that they limited access to the data. So, as you found out
from Bob Kunishi, getting their database on a website isnt possible. I checked
the aphis website for the lists you mention, but couldnt find them on there.
I'll contact Glenn/Jim about the lists website locations/permission to put them
on HEAR or Antpage, etc. Thanks again for the info! -ellen

I have seen that, and I agree it is great! I just thought you meant
something different, that I had not seen.

Dan and others:

Dan wrote: "I looked but could not find what you mean by the antnest site".

Sorry for the confusion. Actually, "Antnest" is our Hawaii Ant Group Web
Page. Gordon must have designated it as such, because that is the way it
appears on my bookmark for Netscape. The address for the website is
http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/ants/ Look under Current Environmental
Threats and you will find Little Fire Ant [Invasion Alert]. Click on....Neat!

At 07:39 PM 2/8/00 -1000, you wrote:
>Aloha,
>
>I (and others) are very, very concerned about a bill that is in the state
>senate and will be voted on tomorrow. I would appreciate feedback on this,
>and if possible, in person testimony on this bill. It does not strictly
>pertain to ants, but this group was formulated because ants are an
>introduced species that pose a great threat ( to economy and to the native
[snip]

For those interested, there is also a sister bill in the House (HB2800) and
a related bill in the Senate (SB3028). All three, SB3028, SB2099, and
HB2800, relate to the import of BC agents from insectaries on the mainland.

The DOA opposes these bills as written. The first one, SB2099 was heard
last week and was deferred (it is not dead). HB2800 will be heard this
morning. I wasn't aware of another hearing this afternoon for SB2099, as
Dan states.

If passed as written, theses bills would allow for the import of 34 BC
agents commonly available on the mainland to be imported into Hawaii
without a risk analysis. The DOA currently does a risk analysis before
approving the import of any insects/animals.

Aloha,

I (and others) are very, very concerned about a bill that is in the state
senate and will be voted on tomorrow. I would appreciate feedback on this,
and if possible, in person testimony on this bill. It does not strictly
pertain to ants, but this group was formulated because ants are an
introduced species that pose a great threat ( to economy and to the native
biota). This bill also concerns introduced species with great potential
threats to the native biota.

This bill proposes to give a list of 34 species free access to the islands,
for anyone who wants to import them. Obtaining a permit to import is a
mere 3 day formality. Many of these species are already established but
some are not. Some are very frightening in their potential (e.g. nematodes
that prey on insects in wet habitats -- watch out! native Drosophila). But
even more frightening is the precedent this bill sets. It opens the door
for an ever increasing list of importable species--whatever species favored
by the powerful private interest group of the moment.

I have attached my personal testimony (I apologize for the unsolicited
attachment, but I assure you it is clean) and I would add that the
underwriters of this bill know so little about these species that they
could not even get the spelling right in a number of cases. This is why we
have our current biocontrol law. There should be no importations of new
introduced species unless we have thoroughly researched them, and we can be
confident that the species will be of benefit but little harm. We have no
such assurances on many of these species.

These are merely my own opinions, bolstered by other like minded
individuals, and you are certainly free to think differently. I understand
that others in public agencies do not think as I do, and I encourage
discourse with these people if you know of them, and if they will come forward.

Below is more information. If you oppose this bill, then please act
now. No further written testimony will be accepted. We must show up in
person, at the Capitol Building at 400 pm, conference room 224.

Thanks for your help.

for the text of the bill:

http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/sessioncurrent/bills/sb2099_.htm

the presidential executive order, which definitely contradicts SB 2099:

http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/1999/2/3/
14.text.2

Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\congressFeb2.doc"

Ellen:

At our last HAG meeting, I brought up the topic of the availability of a
list of Federal Quarantine Interceptions. I suggested that an inquiry be
made by our group, since my efforts was not getting me anywhere. Bob
Kunishi, insect systematist with APHIS finally did get back to me.
Evidently, a list compiled at the national level does exist, but he thought
that access was limited only to APHIS quarantine officials, ie. that it
was not available to the public via the web. It seems like there were no
other websites available that pertained only to Hawaii's interceptions.

Interestingly, Larry Nakahara attended a National Program Workshop
concerning Exotic Pest Program Review, which was held at the IIlikai on
January 24-26, 2000. He got a folder of information, and at the end there
were categorized pest lists. One was called "Official APHIS PPQ Pest List".
In it were the organisms that the Fed. Inspectors were to be on the look
out for, including virus, bacteria, fungus, insects, nematodes, mites, and
weeds. Another list concerned the "exotic pest list recommended worst of
the worst " that was prepared for USDA, APHIS by the Entomological Society
of America's Pest List Team. Another list concerned the top 10 exotic pest
insects, exotic plant pathogens, and pest plants (weeds). If you provide me
with your fax number, I can send you some samples. I think this is some
of the information that some of our group members were asking for. I would
think that this is public domain info since it was given out at the
meeting. I have no idea if information like this is already provided on
the web. I think that it might be a good idea to find out if it is and what
is the web site. Larry thought that Dr. Glenn Hinsdale , the director of
APHIS -PPQ at the Federal Bldg.
might be a good person to start off with. (email: Glenn.L.
Hinsdale@usda.gov, phone 541-1978 or 541-1980). You can ask him such
questions as: if it is available on the web, and if it is not, if they
could put it up somewhere. Or if it is available for scanning onto the Ant
Website, HEAR website, or any other appropriate website. You can also
explain why we want this information and how it would be valuable to us.
Part of the mission of the meeting was to obtain feedback from users of
USDA-ARS services on how to improve the programs to shape the future
direction. USDA-APHIS, to which Plant Quarantine belongs, was also
involved in this. Thus now is a good time to be asking for the lists.
At the same time, you may want to ask Glenn about the availability of the
local Fed. Quarantine Interception List.

These are my thoughts and suggestions. What do others think?
By the way, Gordon did a fantastic job on Wasmannia on the Antnest page.

Dan - this web site has lots of good red imported fire ant photos. yes, some even gory. -ellen

HTTP://fireant.tamu.edu/materials/graphics/index.html
--
Ellen VanGelder

Dear Bernarr and others,

thanks for the support and for the feedback on the letter. While I think
it may be a bit early to write such a group letter (lets wait until some
results start to pile in), I think it is a fantastic idea. Thanks for
suggesting it. We should address it to the NSF committee in charge of the
program. It is these sorts of nuggets that keep the funding rolling in,
as it evidence that the proposed program is actually doing some of the
proposed work, and getting results. So down the line I will advise you
as to when to write this and to whom to address it.

But again, lets wait until things start to happen. Incidentally, I have
gotten some feedback from the superintendent of the Hawaii District and he
is very excited about the potential. As to inserting the ant stuff midway
through the school year, this is actually the IDEAL time to do so,
because state science standards have just been renewed and published. the
curriculum is changing, and so now is the time to suggest new approaches.
And yes, the srping will be a pilot as we fully expect to renew the
project for one more year. By the time the fall semester starts we should
really know what we are doing!

Ellen, yes I will use letterhead, but I dont know if I HAVE a title. What
would you suggest? "graduate student?"

Finally, who did we decide would be accosting Nancy Glover with symposium
and talk ideas? Lloyd?

Oh and one final reminder, any gory introduced pest slides would be much
appreciated, including perhaps S. invicta? Visual examples are a must.

aloha
Dan

Dan - the letter is great! my only suggestions: 1. put it on UH CCRT letter head
(maybe you plan to do this already), 2.) put your "title" after your name, or
somehow indicate to them who you are/what your role is in the project, and 3.) maybe
make more clear that the data would actually be used by HDOA (though with caveats we
discussed at the meeting. i.e.HDOA may not be able to treat at all sites where
found, etc.) to help determine the distribution of this ant on Hawaii - info HDOA
needs to plan management stratedy. Just suggestions. Good luck - i really look
forward to seeing how this school program works out! -ellen

Dear Dan and Antlisters:

I think that the letter was well written and should stir up a lot of
support and excitement. I wish during my grade school years that we had
such programs which linked textbook science with practical hands on
projects. What makes it even more exciting is the involvement in an
islandwide activity!

Although it was mentioned that the timing during the mid school session
may not be favorable, I think that many teachers will see this as a window
of opportunity that may not again show up for a long time and will be
willing to adjust their schedules. Anyway, this may also give you time to
work out the kinks before the next school year. If elimination of the ant
is at all possible, it is better to start as soon as possible, since the
longer you wait the more chance of spreading.

Is there any place to write, thanking for the funding for the project and
encouragement for funding for future projects, involving collaboration
between scientists and educators? I would suggest writing a letter from
the group. Recent studies have shown that US students have been falling
behind the rest of the world as far as science and math are concerned and
this would be a wonderful way to encourage students back into the science
field.

Good luck in your endeavors and if you need any help, let me know.

Bernarr

Aloha,

I know I write at a late hour, too late for many of you to see this before
the meeting. We had our first meeting of the K-12 group yesterday, so
there has been much to undretsand about the program before steps could be
taken. For this and other reasons, a detailed proposal has been difficult
to write. I have a number of ideas, however, and these could be discussed
tomorrow. In the meantime, here is the letter I propose to send to the
distirct superintendent and 26 principals of East Hawaii schools. Feedback
appreciated if possible. I cannot bring hardcopies because my printer is
on the blink.

---------------------------------------------------
I write to you with excellent news! Recently the Center for Conservation
Research & Training (CCRT) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa received a
$1.4 million,
multi-year grant from the National Science Foundation. The goal of this
program is to form a collaboration between scientists and educators in our
K-12 school system that will enhance the science curriculum, particularly
in the teaching of evolution and conservation. Many Hawaii residents do
not realize that Hawaii attracts global attention as the preeminent
"natural laboratory" for the study of evolution and conservation
biology. Thus, we have a unique opportunity to help students take pride in
their natural heritage and learn its proper stewardship while being on the
cutting edge of an exciting field of science. We wish to invite you to
join this uncommon partnership.

Last year, a pest species new to the Hawaiian Islands was discovered on
Kauai and East Hawaii (see the press release and known distribution at
http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/ants/Wasmannia/index.html). The "little fire
ant" is a tiny (1/16 inch long!) stinging ant that is a problem in many
areas where it has been accidentally introduced, including Florida, the
Galapagos and New Caledonia. This ant poses a serious threat to our
economy, health and to our native Hawaiian organisms. The little fire ant
feeds on native insects, encourages agricultural pests such as aphids, and
the fierceness of its sting has been known to drive coffee workers from
their fields. Control and mitigation measures for introduced species
already established in the islands (e.g. mosquitoes, Giant African Snail,
and Miconia) are enormously expensive, both in economic and environmental
terms. Needless to say, we do not want this new ant in Hawaii. We believe
we can still contain it or eliminate it from the islands, but we will need
help to do so.

I believe the K-12 students in East Hawaii can help us understand the
geographic extent of the problem. In the process, they will learn valuable
lessons about Hawaiian natural history, conservation issues, and real-life,
on-the-ground management of environmental problems. I propose to go to
each of the public schools in East Hawaii and present a
series of workshops that will (1) help develop basic appreciation of
Hawaii's natural history, (2) introduce the problem of exotic species in
general and the little fire ant in particular, and (3) provide practical
population sampling and mapping activities that can be used to determine
geographic distribution. In addition, for those interested, field trips
can be arranged to infestation sites and natural habitats. As a result,
students and teachers will be invited to participate in science research by
collecting data on the distribution of the fire ant.

The students really would be researchers in helping understand the
geographic extent of the infestation problem. Because the ant is
slow-moving and very tiny, it keeps a low profile while its populations are
growing. Indeed, the ant may have been in the Islands for as many as six
years before it was discovered. Imagine the power of hundreds of student
researchers each surveying ants in their backyards. This is something for
which the Department of Agriculture could never provide sufficient human
resources. We will train willing teachers and students how to collect
specimens safely. Location data will be mapped using powerful software
that we will provide, and the students will be able to see the fruits of
their labor in bright full color.

Because it is not realistic to reach every class in a short time frame, we
might target specific grade levels such as 4, 7, and 10 or 11. The project
may fit well with on-going science lessons or could be incorporated into
the Hawaiiana curriculum activities. The workshops can be developed for
teachers or for students. This and other details are open for discussion
and alignment with existing school initiatives

The problem of introduced pest species is not unique to Hawaii, but it is a
threat to Hawaii's uniqueness. The majority of Hawaii's land plants and
animals are found nowhere else on earth, and are a part of the natural
heritage of Hawaii that must be preserved well into the future. We owe it
to the succeeding generation to pass on their inheritance as intact as
possible. Thus, it is one goal of this project to educate young people
about Hawaiian birds, insects and plants. Hopefully, we can instill or
nourish their sense of the wonder, appreciation and respect for Hawaiian
ecosystems, one small step towards producing the next generation of
conservationists. There is much at stake and much to lose, but only
because we have so very much that's worth our protection!

I eagerly look forward to working closely with you, the students, and the
teachers on this important project. I will be contacting your office
within the next week to set up an appointment. Please contact me with any
questions or concerns you may have in the meantime.

By working together we can find the means to squelch this new threat to our
economy, lifestyle and environment. And who knows? We may all end up
having a good time.

Sincerely yours,
Daniel S. Gruner
985-9025

I have twice tried to respond to Pete's email directly, but have not
had
luck. (has the addresschanged?) Apologies, Pete, for not getting back to
you sooner.

I will be at another conference from 22-24 Feb so will not be able to attend the HES.
However, I will definitely be around for the ConCon. I assume plans
won't be made for that for some time still. But please keep me
posted, especially if you need to know what I'll be presenting. I will
have email contact this week (sorry for the spacing, I am on an
erraticCzech keyboard)and sporadic email contact while I am in Africa
(18 Jan-10 April). I will be back in Hawai'i 1May.

Salama,

Lori

Pete - I'd rather shoot for presenting something at the conservation meeting.
Also, with respect to outreach, my personal priorities are to try to get
information regarding ant issues to the general public/non-entomologist
types. So i'd rather focus what spare time i have on that aspect of
outreach. The audience at the conservation conference will be a bit more
general, so i'd rather present at that meeting. -ellen

I have gotten a very poor response to my request for presentations at
HES. I would like to spend a few minutes at the ant meeting January
13th nailing down the number of talks. If I get a chance before that
I will start contacting individuals to get a YES or NO out of them. I
would like to give Peter Follet an estimate of the time we would
require as soon as possible.

So far:
Pat Conant - Wasmannia survey & control (possibly more)
Pete Oboyski - Ants on Mauna Kea and Saddle Road region

I will probably, in my opening remarks to the session, talk about HAG
(its origins, participants, list-server, webpage) unless someone else
would like to.

Dan Gruner will not be able to present anything on outreach at this
point, but will hopefully have something for HCC.

I assume Lori will not be around to talk about her HAVO project (it
may be a little early in the project to say much anyway).


How about:
Quarantine interceptions
Haleakala update


Aloha,

Pete

Hi all - here's a tentative agenda. comments/additions appreciated.
I'll try to be sure all items are covered this time -ellen

AGENDA - Jan.13'00 HAG meeting.

1. Wasmannia update
2. Dans proposal for outreach
3. S.invicta ideas (outreach, early warning system)
4. pest interception database update from Bernarr
5. Conferences ( ent. society; conservation conf., fire ant conf)

Ellen VanGelder

Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2000 08:32:04 -1000
From: Ellen VanGelder <evangeld@hawaii.edu>
To: Dan Gruner <dgruner@hawaii.edu>
Subject: Re: jan. meeting

OK all - i think we should go ahead and meet as planned on jan.13. sound good?

Hi Ellen and everyone,

I hope to get some feedback on a detailed logistical proposal for the ant
outreach, especially from the HDOA guys. This could be done by email or at
a meeting.

Also there is the issue of outreach at the HES and HCC. It might be useful
to meet in person to plan the symposium at either conference, but
especially the one that looms in February.

I will go with group consensus on this one.

Dan

Hi all - I was wondering what you think about an agenda for the jan. 13
meeting. I dont have much on my list except a few things (that could
easily be discussed over email). Guess i'm wondering if we need this
meeting now, or if we should postpone. What does everyone think? Do we
have stuff to discuss? -ellen

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If you encounter any problems, email Gordon Nishida at gordo@bishopmuseum.org