Principal Investigator:
Harlan
Thorvilson - website: http://www.pssc.ttu.edu/Personnel/harlthor.htm
e-mail: rthor@ttacs.ttu.edu
Co-Principal Investigator:
Michael
San Francisco - website: http://www.biol.ttu.edu/faculty/facpages/sanfranciso/SanFrancisco.html
e-mail: michael.sanfrancisco@ttu.edu
A genetically engineered strain of the fungus Beauveria
bassiana is being tested as a possible biocontrol agent to
eliminate large populations for the Red Imported Fire Ant.
Researchers are currently developing an effective delivery system
of the fungus to the RIFA colonies in the field.
PROJECT
TITLE: Beauveria bassiana as a Biocontrol Agent
Against the Red Imported Fire Ant
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND
SIGNIFICANCE:
- Because populations of the red
imported fire ant are difficult to control, and chemical
control measures are non-selective and often adversely
affect non-target arthropods, the purpose of this project
is to determine the effectiveness of Beauveria
bassiana as a biocontrol agent against the red
imported fire ant.
- Research will focus on delivery
systems and augmented fungal activity of Beauveria
bassiana (Fungi: Deuteromycotina) which has caused
RIFA mortality in laboratory and field trials.
- Expand field application trials of B.
bassiana mycelia will be conducted at RIFA-infested
sites in the southeastern United States.
- The long-term benefit will be to
reduce RIFA populations using a biological control agent
and, hence reduce RIFA establishment and spread.
MAJOR FINDINGS TO DATE:
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- Contact Harlan Thorvilson at:
(806)742-2838 or Contact Michael
San Francisco at: (806)742-2706
or
Principal Investigator:
David
Willis - website: http://www.aeco.ttu.edu/People/Willis.htm
e-mail: david.willis@ttu.edu
Research being conducted by the Agricultural and applied
Economics Department focuses on the economic impacts of the Red
Imported Fire Ants in Texas. Economic feasibility of efforts to
control RIFA are also being evaluated.
PROJECT
TITLE: A County Level Analysis of the Cost and Benefit of
Implementing a RIFA Control Program to Agricultural Crop
Producers and Electric Utilities in Texas
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND
SIGNIFICANCE:
- The purpose of this project is to
develop cost-effective methods for reducing statewide red
imported fire ant (RIFA) damage on the economy. Previous
research at Texas Tech University has conservatively
estimated that statewide RIFA damages annually cost the
electric utility industry $153 million and agricultural
crop producers another $47 million.
- This new project will extend and
refine previous research regarding the economic damage of
RIFA to the state. Agricultural crop producers and
electric utility companies will be surveyed in a county
level analysis to refine RIFA damages in these two
economic sectors in each RIFA quarantined county. This
research will extend prior research by estimating the
economic benefit of RIFA control in each RIFA infested
county for existing control technologies and promising
new control technologies. Control cost budgets will be
developed for existing control technologies and promising
new control technologies.
- The findings of this research will
be used to identify the most cost-effective RIFA control
technologies, as well as identify counties where the net
benefit of RIFA control is positive with respect to the
agricultural crop production and/or the electric utility
sectors of the economy.
MAJOR FINDINGS TO DATE:
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact David B. Willis at: (806)742-2821
Principle Investigator:
Harlan
Thorvilson - website: http://www.pssc.ttu.edu/Personnel/harlthor.htm
e-mail: rthor@ttacs.ttu.edu
Co-Principal Investigator:
Bobby
Green - website: http://www.ce.ttu.edu/centers/techmrt/Faculty/drgreen/mainpage.htm
e-mail: Bgreen@coe.ttu.edu
Engineering Technology and Plant and Soil Sciences are teaming
up to find solutions to the problem many Texans are facing - RIFA
destruction of electrical and electronic equipment. Researchers
are developing a transformer prototype that is both technically
and economically feasible to reduce invasion of transformer boxes
by RIFA.
PROJECT TITLE:
Protecting Electrical/Electronic Equipment From Fire Ant Damage
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND
SIGNIFICANCE:
- This project will continue design,
laboratory and field trials of a Texas Tech
University-invented, electrical device that repels fire
ants from electrical equipment.
- Imported fire ants invade
electrical equipment and cause damage that jeopardizes
human safety. The electrical current flow through ant
bodies causes derangement, incapacitation, release of gut
contents and of pheromones. The pheromones excite colony
members and attract them to the site. Clumps of reacting
ants develop, and ants pile soil and other debris in the
area that may short out electrical circuitry. Equipment
failure, expensive repair or replacement, and fire danger
result from fire ant invasion. Elimination of fire ant
invasion of components will improve safety and
reliability of electrical equipment.
- Objectives of the project include:
(1) installation and monitoring of the latest version of
a static electric device (SED) in pad-mounted,
residential transformers at six Texas sites, (2)
reinforce SED technology with incorporation of integrated
pest management tactics to protect transformers and other
equipment, and (3) develop a pre-commercial prototype
which is optimized both technically and economically.
MAJOR FINDINGS TO DATE:
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- Contact Harlan Thorvilson at:
(806)742-2838 or hthor@ttu.edu Contact Bobby Green at: (806)742-3538 or bgreen@coe.ttu.edu
Principal Investigator:
Andy
Herring - e-mail: anadh@ttacs.ttu.edu
Co-Principal Investigator:
Sam
Jackson - e-mail: sajackso@ttacs.ttu.edu
Controlling Texas livestock losses due to fire ant infestation
is the purpose of the studies being conducted in the Animal
Science and Food Technology Department. Researchers are studying
grazing patterns, behaviors and immune responses to see if fire
ant density affects grazing times and patterns. The information
will be the first known scientific data dealing with livestock
grazing behavior and immune response.
PROJECT
TITLE: Determination of Effects of Imported Fire Ants on
Texas Livestock
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND
SIGNIFICANCE:
- The purpose of this project is to
determine the effects of the red imported fire ant on
Texas Livestock.
- This project will: (1) determine
environmental and seasonal conditions that promote fire
ant attacks on calves and lambs, (2) evaluate
combinations of commercially available insecticides to
develop safe calving and lambing areas, and (3) monitor
livestock behaviors that affect reproduction,
maintenance, and growth traits in fire ant-infested areas
versus uninfested areas.
- Treatment methods and management
practices will be designed and tested to recapture
economic losses due to fire ants in the Texas cattle,
sheep, and goat industries and to promote producer
implementation of recommended practices that provide
sustainable pest management solutions to the fire ant
problem.
MAJOR FINDINGS TO DATE:
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact Dr. Andy D. Herring at: (806)742-1475 or Andy.Herring@ttu.edu Contact Dr. Sam P. Jackson at: (806)742-2804 or sajackso@ttacs.ttu.edu
Principal Investigator:
Richard
Deslippe - website: http://www.biol.ttu.edu/faculty/facpages/deslippe/Deslippe.html
e-mail: CMRJD@TTU.EDU
Other research being conducted by Biological Sciences
determines the conditions that promote worker execution of queens
in fire ant colonies. If chemical messages (pheromones) could be
delivered to worker ants, they would be stimulated to destroy all
the queens, including the last queen in a colony.
PROJECT
TITLE: Regulation of Queen Abundance in Colonies of the
Red Imported Fire Ant
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND
SIGNIFICANCE:
- Because Solenopsis invicta
workers regularly kill their own queens and adopt foreign
queens into their society, colonies experience
considerable turnover in their reproductive units.
Whether workers execute or adopt queens may be a response
to pheromone concentrations. The purpose of this study is
to isolate the key compounds that would enable
exploitation of the communication system to induce the
self-destruction of colonies.
MAJOR FINDINGS TO DATE:
- The execution and adoption of
queens is associated with extracts of queen pheromones.
PROJECT
TITLE: Regulation of Queen Abundance in Colonies of the
Red Imported Fire Ant
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND
SIGNIFICANCE:
- Fire ant workers sometimes execute
their own queens and sexual larvae, and at other times
they adopt foreign queens. This project aims at learning
the causes of and exploiting these behaviors to stimulate
the self-destruction of colonies.
MAJOR FINDINGS TO DATE:
- We have discovered a new queen
pheromone. It is responsible for the execution of queens
and sexual larvae by workers. The absence of the
pheromone also increases the probability of queen
adoptions.
- We have demonstrated that both
fertilized and unfertilized wingless queens produce the
pheromone, and have successfully extracted the compound.
We have located where the pheromone is
stored, and have determined some of the chemical properties.
Principal Investigator:
Brad
Dabbert - website: http://www.rw.ttu.edu/dept/Faculty/dabbert.htm
e-mail: brad.dabbert@ttu.edu
Co-Principal Investigator:
Mark
Wallace - website: http://www.rw.ttu.edu/4309/rwfm_4309_Dr_Wallace.htm
e-mail: mwallace@ttacs.ttu.edu
Relationships of RIFA and habitat management for deer and
quail populations are the focus for studies conducted in the
Range, Wildlife, and Fisheries Management Department. Researchers
are determining how brush control practices affect RIFA
infestations.
Articles:
Mechanical
Brush Removal: Helping To Spread Fire Ants?
Effects
of Habitat Management on Red Imported Fire Ant Populations
PROJECT
TITLE: Protection of Quail Nests from Mammals to
Increase Chick
Recruitment in Habitat Occupied by the
Red Imported Fire Ant
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND
SIGNIFICANCE:
- The purpose of this project is to
provide economically and environmentally desirable
options of reducing RIFA populations. Current methods
available to reduce RIFA density in wildlife habitat,
such as insecticide treatments, are neither economically
or environmentally desirable for most landowners.
- Landowners may be able to reduce
the impacts of RIFA on wildlife populations by altering
ecological processes rather than removing ants.
They may be able to increase northern bobwhite
populations subjected to RIFA predation by decreasing
loss of nests to mammalian predators. An increase
in nest success should reduce predation by RIFA and
increase chick recruitment into the population.
Predator exclusion or removal may provide managers an
economically feasible alternative to the $20/ha required
to broadcast insecticide application for red imported
fire ant control.
- Results of the study will determine
if hens whose nests are physically protected from
mammalian predators will have more chicks survive until
fall than hens whose nests are exposed to
predation.
MAJOR FINDINGS TO DATE:
- Research indicates that protection
of hatching chicks from RIFA increases chick survival
(54% when protected versus 25% unprotected) to 21 days of
age. Chick survival is related to the number of
RIFA captured in a bait cup placed in nests on the day
after hatch.
- Northern bobwhite populations in
cohabiting areas with RIFA are below their carrying
capacity. If more nests in areas containing low RIFA
activity survive to hatch, then more chicks should
survive to sub-adult status.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact Dr. Brad Dabbert at:
(806)742-1983 or Contact Dr. Rob Mitchell at: 806)742-2841 or Rob.Mitchell@ttu.edu
PROJECT
TITLE: Studies of the Relationship Between Red
Imported Fire Ants and Habitat Managed White Tail Deer
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND
SIGNIFICANCE:
- The purpose of this project is to
develop methods to reduce red imported fire ant (RIFA)
impacts on wildlife. Current methods available to improve
habitat for white-tailed deer may increase RIFA density
in wildlife habitat. The direct and indirect effects of
RIFA on white-tailed deer are being studied to see if
RIFA cause increased mortality or increased risk of
predation to deer.
- Studies are also being conducted to
compare RIFA numbers in relation to habitat improvement
on Texas rangelands. Determining if land management
practices (e.g. large-scale brush control by root
plowing, shredding, and other mechanical means) intended
to improve habitat for deer increase RIFA and whether
RIFA infestations affect white-tailed deer populations
will provide necessary information for decisions land
managers must make.
MAJOR FINDINGS TO DATE:
- Research indicated that newborn
fawns were not killed by RIFA but that RIFA infestations
may increase fawn movements during hiding periods
increasing their risk of predation.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- Contact Mark C. Wallace at:
(806)742-1983 or Mark.Wallace@ttu.edu
Principal Investigator:
Jacqui
Lockaby - website: http://www.ttu.edu/~agred/lockaby.html
e-mail: jacqui.lockaby@ttu.edu
Informing various publics about the research being conducted
at Texas Tech is the goal of the Agricultu4ral Communications
program. Projects include preparing articles, multimedia
presentation, and the creation of a website.
Mathematics
Principal Investigators:
Clyde
Martin- website: http://www.math.ttu.edu/department/proffull.shtml#MCF
e-mail: martin@math.ttu.edu
Jesse
Fagan- e-mail: jfagan@math.ttu.edu
In most areas populated by both harvester ants and RIFA,
harvester ants are unable to compete. By developing a competition
model between both species of ants, researchers aim to understand
the effects of fire ants on native ants. Results of this study
will be used in an overall model of the threatened Texas Horned
Lizard.
PROJECT
TITLE: A Simulation in Competition Between Solenopis
invicta and Harvester Ants, genus Pogonomyrmex
DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT AND
SIGNIFICANCE:
- The purpose of this project is to
determine the effects of the red imported fire ant (RIFA)
on native harvester ants. In areas of RIFA infestation,
total native species may be reduced by as much as 66
percent because RIFA are able to aggressively displace
harvester ants for space and foraging areas. This, in
turn, has large-scale implications for other organisms.
- A model was designed to simulate
the competition between the ants. The model projects
future colony densities for both RIFA and harvester ants.
Many considerations were made including dormancy and
reproduction periods, habitat destruction, and the number
of contacts made between RIFA and harvester ant colonies.
- Future developments will involve
the inclusion of additional ant species and the effects
of RIFA control measures.
- The finalized model will aid
researchers in using RIFA control measures that are
quick, cost-effective, and environmentally sound.
MAJOR FINDINGS TO DATE:
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- Contact Dr. Clyde F. Martin at:
(806)742-2566 or martin@math.ttu.edu Contact Jesse F. Fagan at: (806)-742-1574 or jfagan@math.ttu.edu
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