At Least 1 Species Loves A Destabilized, Bulldozed World As Much As We Do - Fire Ants
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An estimated 14 million people are stung every year, with some of those incidents leading to hospitalizations. About half of people are at least somewhat allergic to fire ant stings, and roughly one percent of people are at risk of having a dangerous full-body reaction. The cost of a world where Solenopsis invicta thrives doesn’t end with the medical bills. They cause at least $6.7 billion in annual damages to not only people but houses, electrical and telephone lines, and agriculture.
That figure only captures the costs we can easily estimate. The ants are also adept at taking down baby birds and reptiles, including quail, alligators, lizards, and turtles—in particular, the threatened gopher tortoise, which digs burrows that more than 360 other species use for shelter. Once one of these baby animals pokes a hole in its shell to begin hatching, the ants can swarm inside their shells.
As this ant continues its plunder, the outlook for these other species (and our own ability to walk fearlessly across a lawn) is bleak. But some species seem to be defying the odds and evolving fire-ant resistance. The fence lizard, common in the Eastern US, is known to freeze in response to a threat. That’s terrible if your enemy is the fire ant, which can swarm, bite, and ultimately kill such a target. In areas where fire ants thrive, however, fence lizards appeared to have learned to bolt instead, according to a recent study in the journal Global Change Biology.
Yet fire ants continue to conquer new territory, confounding scientists’ estimates of their likely spread time and again. “If you look back over time, it's a lesson in humility,” says Allen. With warming temperatures, nothing’s stopping the red imported fire ant any time soon.
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https://www.wired.com/story/one-species-loves-our-climate-wrecking-ways-fire-ants/
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