Knowing the enemy: Ant behavior and control in a pediatric hospital of Buenos Aires

Ant control is difficult in systems even where a variety of control strategies and compounds are allowed; in sensitive places such as hospitals, where there are often restrictions on the methods and toxicants to be applied, the challenge is even greater. Here we report the methods and results of how...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Josens, Roxana Beatriz, Sola, Francisco Javier
Publicado: 2014
Materias:
Ant
Baits
Chemical control
Food preferences
Nylanderia fulva
Acceso en línea:https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_21931801_v3_n1_p1_Josens
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_21931801_v3_n1_p1_Josens
Aporte de:
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
id paper:paper_21931801_v3_n1_p1_Josens
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spelling paper:paper_21931801_v3_n1_p1_Josens2023-06-08T16:35:07Z Knowing the enemy: Ant behavior and control in a pediatric hospital of Buenos Aires Josens, Roxana Beatriz Sola, Francisco Javier Ant Baits Chemical control Food preferences Nylanderia fulva Ant control is difficult in systems even where a variety of control strategies and compounds are allowed; in sensitive places such as hospitals, where there are often restrictions on the methods and toxicants to be applied, the challenge is even greater. Here we report the methods and results of how we faced this challenge of controlling ants in a pediatric hospital using baits. Our strategy was based on identifying the species present and analyzing their behavior. On the one hand, we evaluated outdoors in the green areas of the hospital, the relative abundance of ant genera, their food preferences and the behavioral dominances. On the other hand, control treatments were performed using separately two boron compounds added to sucrose solution which was not highly concentrated to avoid constrains due to the viscosity. Most of the species in the food preference test accepted sugary food; only one species was recorded to visit it less than the protein foods. This result was consistent with the efficacy of control treatments by sugary baits within the rooms. For species that showed good acceptance of sugar solutions in the preference test outdoors, sugar bait control indoors was 100& effective. Conversely, for the only species that foraged significantly less on sugar food, the bait treatment was ineffective. This work reveals the importance of considering the behavior and feeding preferences of the species to be controlled by toxic baits. © 2014 Josens et al.; licensee Springer. Fil:Josens, R. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Fil:Sola, F.J. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. 2014 https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_21931801_v3_n1_p1_Josens http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_21931801_v3_n1_p1_Josens
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic Ant
Baits
Chemical control
Food preferences
Nylanderia fulva
spellingShingle Ant
Baits
Chemical control
Food preferences
Nylanderia fulva
Josens, Roxana Beatriz
Sola, Francisco Javier
Knowing the enemy: Ant behavior and control in a pediatric hospital of Buenos Aires
topic_facet Ant
Baits
Chemical control
Food preferences
Nylanderia fulva
description Ant control is difficult in systems even where a variety of control strategies and compounds are allowed; in sensitive places such as hospitals, where there are often restrictions on the methods and toxicants to be applied, the challenge is even greater. Here we report the methods and results of how we faced this challenge of controlling ants in a pediatric hospital using baits. Our strategy was based on identifying the species present and analyzing their behavior. On the one hand, we evaluated outdoors in the green areas of the hospital, the relative abundance of ant genera, their food preferences and the behavioral dominances. On the other hand, control treatments were performed using separately two boron compounds added to sucrose solution which was not highly concentrated to avoid constrains due to the viscosity. Most of the species in the food preference test accepted sugary food; only one species was recorded to visit it less than the protein foods. This result was consistent with the efficacy of control treatments by sugary baits within the rooms. For species that showed good acceptance of sugar solutions in the preference test outdoors, sugar bait control indoors was 100& effective. Conversely, for the only species that foraged significantly less on sugar food, the bait treatment was ineffective. This work reveals the importance of considering the behavior and feeding preferences of the species to be controlled by toxic baits. © 2014 Josens et al.; licensee Springer.
author Josens, Roxana Beatriz
Sola, Francisco Javier
author_facet Josens, Roxana Beatriz
Sola, Francisco Javier
author_sort Josens, Roxana Beatriz
title Knowing the enemy: Ant behavior and control in a pediatric hospital of Buenos Aires
title_short Knowing the enemy: Ant behavior and control in a pediatric hospital of Buenos Aires
title_full Knowing the enemy: Ant behavior and control in a pediatric hospital of Buenos Aires
title_fullStr Knowing the enemy: Ant behavior and control in a pediatric hospital of Buenos Aires
title_full_unstemmed Knowing the enemy: Ant behavior and control in a pediatric hospital of Buenos Aires
title_sort knowing the enemy: ant behavior and control in a pediatric hospital of buenos aires
publishDate 2014
url https://bibliotecadigital.exactas.uba.ar/collection/paper/document/paper_21931801_v3_n1_p1_Josens
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_21931801_v3_n1_p1_Josens
work_keys_str_mv AT josensroxanabeatriz knowingtheenemyantbehaviorandcontrolinapediatrichospitalofbuenosaires
AT solafranciscojavier knowingtheenemyantbehaviorandcontrolinapediatrichospitalofbuenosaires
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