Biocontrol of Tropical Fire Ants
The tropical fire ant, Solenopsis geminata, has been a destructive marauder in my garden for more than a decade. In the search for an organic biocontrol, I enlisted the help of AI. It suggested the remedy of drenching the soil near ant mounds with the solution of a fungus called Beauveria bassiana that would selectively kill the topical fire ants, but leave other insects, fish, and humans unscathed. This resulted in a temporary decrease in ant numbers at the place of drenching. But the ant colony was not eradicated. It merely relocated to where the treatment was not applied. The measure was palliative rather than curative. A truly long-term, reliable, and repeatable organic solution to this problem awaits future research.