The battle for the Pacific: Keeping invasive ants at bay
The fight to keep the Pacific region free of some of the world's worst invasive ant species has stepped up a notch with surveillance at high-risk ports under the umbrella of the Pacific Ant Prevention Programme (PAPP).
PAPP is the implementation arm of a strategy to protect the Pacific region from the world's worst invasive ant species (the Pacific Ant Prevention Plan, see Biosecurity issue 52:12). While Pacific island countries already host a number of recognised pest ant species, the region is still free of red imported and black imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta and S. richteri), while the little fire ant (Wasmannia auropunctata) is currently restricted in distribution. Areas of the southern United States where red imported fire ants are in high density, sustain annual economic costs to the tune of US$1billion. Pacific islands are likely to experience even more severe impacts from these ants due to continued reliance on subsistence agriculture, the favourable environmental conditions, and often reduced ability to fund expensive pest control programmes.
The aim of the PAPP is to prevent the establishment of imported fire ants, and slow or prevent the spread of pest ant species that are already present. The PAPP operates within an environment that traditionally had not recognised the threat of invasive ants, nor had any capability to detect or respond to incursions of new pest ant species. This is no longer the case.
Quarantine staff in Samoa learn
how to prepare bait pots
to use in the surveillance
programme.
Baseline surveillance for high-impact ants
Pacific Invasive Ant Surveillance (PIAS), a collaborative effort between MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ), AgriQuality, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Flybusters AntiAnts, and funded by the Pacific Security Fund, was first conducted in 2006. It was designed to provide baseline surveillance for high-impact invasive ants, and train Pacific-based quarantine staff in surveillance techniques.
The first round of PIAS covered 18 high-risk sea and airports in nine Pacific island countries, and trained over 70 quarantine service staff from 11 Pacific island countries in surveillance techniques. The good news is that there were no detections of high-impact exotic ants, nor were any new distributions of little fire ants found.
MAFBNZ, AgriQuality and SPC are now planning for the second round of PIAS, again with funding provided by the Pacific Security Fund. This time, 13 Pacific countries will be visited and receive training, and 32 high-risk sites will be surveyed. The training and surveillance methods have been streamlined to the needs of Pacific island countries, for example, the use of Global Positioning System units instead of aerial site photos. A continuing emphasis is to hand over responsibility and build capability for each country to continue the surveillance in the future without the involvement of MAFBNZ or AgriQuality.
Identification to move 'in-house'
A crucial step for the sustainability of PIAS, following the second round, is to ensure that the identification of the samples generated from surveillance can be taken care of 'in-house'. In the first round, all the samples were sent to Flybusters AntiAnts in New Zealand for processing, adding expense and time to the programme. An upcoming ant taxonomy training course, organised by MAFBNZ and SPC, with the help of some additional ant taxonomy experts, will ensure that entomologists already working in the Pacific islands are able to identify the key pest and invasive ant species and can process the samples arising out of PIAS. Thirty-five people from 13 Pacific countries will be trained with the aid of a LUCID key (software tool to aid identification) specially designed for this purpose by University of California PhD student Eli Sarnat. The key will be freely available on the internet when complete in about two years' time, and can be updated and modified as needed.
Thanks to SPC's efforts to roll out the PAPP, PIAS training has also been delivered to several other Pacific countries and territories, such as Pitcairn Island. In addition, the methods were successfully used recently to respond to a potential incursion of red imported fire ants following the discovery of a nest on a yacht in Auckland that had travelled through the Pacific (Operation Kadridri, see Biosecurity issue 75:10).
Other achievements under the PAPP include the development of public awareness materials such as pest alerts, posters, and a DVD due to be aired on Pacific island television stations soon. Future work will focus on continuing the PIAS, increasing capability to respond to incursions, development of emergency response plans and intra-Pacific sanitation to prevent the spread of ant pests between islands. MAFBNZ will continue to work with SPC to further the PAPP and continue the battle to protect the Pacific.
Acknowledgements:
- Disna Gunawardana (MAFBNZ), Ane Hunkin (MFAT), Roy Masamdu (SPC), Lester Mattson (AgriQuality Limited), Simon O'Connor (MAFBNZ), Warea Orapa (SPC), Eli Sarnat (UCA), Murray Towler (AgriQuality), Viv van Dyk (Flybusters AntiAnts), Cas Vanderwoude (Vanderwoude Consulting), Nacanieli Waqa (SPC) and Caress Whippy (SPC).
- Megan Sarty, Senior Adviser Environmental and Marine Response, MAF Biosecurity New Zealand, phone 04 894 0665, megan.sarty@maf.govt.nz
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Page last updated: 30 April 2008