Control of the Fire Ants: Where do I Find Information?

Abstract

The fire ants are easily found in urban environments, and because of their aggressive behavior, they sting their victims, which can trigger serious allergic reactions or even death. The control of these ants is still not well established, however, it is possible to find several control alternatives both in the internet and in the literature.  Therefore, the objective of this work was to perform a quantitative survey on the methods of control of fire ants available in the different media of disclosure. The survey was conducted on Google and YouTube platforms for websites and videos, respectively, and Web of Science and Google Scholar for scientific productions, in the past 22 years. The terms used in the research were "how to control fire ants” in websites and videos and "fire ants, control, Brazil" for the bibliography search. The methods found were divided into three categories: homemade, chemical and biological control. A total of 38 publications (18 sites, 12 videos and eight bibliographic productions) that addressed 18 different methods of control were recorded. The homemade methods were the most cited (n = 39), followed by chemical methods (n = 19) and biological control (n = 2). Among the sites found, the use of substances of vegetable origin (n = 7) was the most cited, and most of the videos accessed suggested a solution of vinegar with detergent (n = 5) and in the bibliographical productions the use of insecticides (n = 4) was more recommended. There was participation of professionals in 61% of the publications. Although the internet is a popular research instrument, it is necessary to take into account the reliability of the information provided, since the handling of certain products can be harmful to health and the environment and in many cases be totally ineffective for the control of these ants.