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Fire Ants - College Term Papers

Fire Ants

have been in the United States for over sixty years, and almost
every American that lives in or frequently visits the quarantined states which
they inhabit has had an unpleasant run in with these troublesome critters.
Inhabitants of the Southeast who have ever stood unwittingly atop a fire ant
mound know that the insects are aptly named. When the ants sting it creates a
sensation similar to scorching caused by a hot needle touching the skin
momentarily (1. Tschinkel 474). Fire ants are native to South America and were
introduced to the United States in 1928 through a port in Mobile, Alabama. The
ants were stowaways hidden in soil used for ballast and in dunnage dropped off
the ships ...

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spread much further then the
second wave of imported ants recognized as Solenopsis Invicta Buren or red
fire ants(4. Lockley 33). This second wave of ants arrived in about 1945 and
spread much more rapidly and dominated the previous more passive black ant(5.
Lockley 34). Homer Collins, a fire ant expert, stated that "The new invader,
known as the red imported fire ant, proved more adaptive and rapidly displaced
the existing imported black ant. By 1949, Solenopsis Invicta Buren were the
dominant species of imported fire ant. Ants could be found in commercial
ornamental-plant nurseries in the heart of the Southeast." Red ants are a
particularly aggressive ant species that, like the killer bees, are rapidly
spreading northward from the Southeastern United States, and have traveled as
far west as Texas and as far north as North Carolina. "Experts predict that the
ants may eventually reach as far west as California and as far north as
Chesapeake Bay."(7. Tschinkel 474). The ...

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at the 1994 Ecological Society of America Conference,
will be the "Homogocene," an era in which the world's biota is homogenized
through biological invasions(10. Lockley 37). Fire ants use their stingers to
immobilize or kill prey and to defend ant mounds from disturbance by larger
animals such as humans. Any disturbance sends hundreds of workers out to attack
the potential nourishment or predator. The ant grabs its victim with its
mandibles (mouth parts) and then inserts its stinger. The process of stinging
releases a chemical which alerts other ants, inducing them to sting
simultaneously. In addition, one ant can sting several times, even after its’
venom sack has been emptied, ...

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 9/10/2005 08:34:27 PM
Category: Science & Nature
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 2119
Pages: 8

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