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News tagged with fire ants

New studies show promise for biological control methods against insects

(PhysOrg.com) -- For years, scientists have tried to use environmentally friendly fungi to control fire ant infestations.

Biology / Biotechnology

created Feb 01, 2012 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Kudzu-eating beetle: Good news or bad?

Kudzu, a green leafy vine native to China and Japan brought to the United States in the 19th century, has long been cursed by farmers and timber producers for the property and crop damage it can cause.

Biology / Ecology

created Sep 27, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Organism diversity: Fast-evolving genes control developmental differences in social insects

Genes essential to producing the developmental differences displayed by social insects evolve more rapidly than genes governing other aspects of organismal function, a new study has found.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Sep 19, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Where birds fly offers clues to man

Each December a hardy flock of birdwatchers scatters across Mecklenburg County in North Carolina for the National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count, which has tracked bird movements for more than a century.

Biology / Ecology

created May 11, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Fire ants assemble as a 'super-organism' (w/ video)

The ants may go marching one by one, but they end up forming a superstructure of thousands -- and together they can form a raft that stretches the boundaries of the laws of physics, according to new research ...

Physics / General Physics

created Apr 25, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (16) | comments 20 | with audio podcast

Study traces global red imported fire ant invasions to Southern US

Red imported fire ant invasions around the globe in recent years can now be traced to the southern U.S., where the nuisance insect gained a foothold in the 1930s, new University of Florida research has found.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 24, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

New red imported fire ant enemies in place for combat

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists are releasing the fifth species of phorid fly to control fire ant populations. Red imported fire ants first arrived in the United States in the early 1930s ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 3

Stress hormones help lizards escape from fire ants

New research shows that when some fence lizards are attacked by fire ants they "stress out"-- a response that actually helps the species to survive by heightening the animal's awareness of imminent danger. ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Aug 02, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

UMaine Researchers Look for Answers to Growing Fire Ant Populations

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the University of Maine are working on solutions to the rapid population growth of invasive stinging fire ants, now showing up in alarming numbers from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia, and beyond ...

Biology / Ecology

created Jul 16, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

As monarch butterflies journey north, gardeners can help protect species, researcher says

It has been a hard winter for Monarch butterflies, according to Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas. Taylor said that low temperatures, storms and habitat destruction have all threatened the ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 10, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Rapacious Rasberry ants march north

Poor Texas. First it was killer bees, then fire ants. Now, it's the Rasberry ants.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (10) | comments 10

Fish-Killing Toxin Could Kill Cancer Cells

A powerful fish-killing toxin could have cancer-killing properties as well, according to collaborative research led by Agricultural Research Service microbiologist Paul V. Zimba and chemist Peter Moeller of ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Sep 09, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Native Lizards Evolve to Escape Attacks by Fire Ants

(PhysOrg.com) -- Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology Tracy Langkilde has shown that native fence lizards in the southeastern United States are adapting to potentially fatal invasive fire-ant attacks ...

Biology /

created Jan 20, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (6) | comments 4