title: Impact of the invasion of the imported fire ant.
abstract: The impact of the imported fire ant (IFA) is complex, in large part, because several very different species of "Fire Ants" have invaded and one of these has two forms, all of which are hard to separate by the public, as well as, some investigators not focused on the ant. Each of these different "IFA" species and forms differ in their impact. Further, these ants impact a number of "things" ranging from the environment and wildlife (plants and animals) as well as people, their environment and infrastructure. In addition, they can not only lead to death of living things (including people), but they can destroy many aspects of our environment and infrastructure at the cost of millions of dollars. But there are some beneficial aspects and some people can make many thousands of dollars due to their presence. This is an attempt to look at these issues.
authors: Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, Collage Station, TX, 77843, USA. bvinson@tamu.edu
authors: S Bradleigh
authors: SB
authors: Vinson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001000:Ants / Q000502:physiology*; D001516:Bees / Q000469:parasitology*; D006801:Humans; D007299:Insect Bites and Stings / Q000453:epidemiology; D058865:Introduced Species; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000469:parasitology*
keywords: animals; environment; imported fire ant; infrastructure; negative fire ant impact; people; plants; positive fire ant impact