Development of an alginate hydrogel to deliver aqueous bait for pest ant management

Tay, Jia-Wei; Hoddle, Mark S.; Mulchandani, Ashok; Choe, Dong–Hwan

doi:10.1002/ps.4616

Cited by 34 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 52 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…One of the most important goals is to develop effective ant control strategies while minimizing negative environmental impact. Recent developments in this area include hydrogel baits, prey‐baiting based on the use of poisoned prey, and pheromone‐assisted baiting . The current study evaluated a novel, target‐specific approach for managing pest ants based on a three‐step method of trap–treat–release.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trap–treat–release: horizontal transfer of fipronil in field colonies of black carpenter ants, Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Buczkowski

2019

Pest Management Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BACKGROUND: Horizontal insecticide transfer is thought to play an important role in controlling a wide range of urban pests including ants, bed bugs, cockroaches, and termites. Despite decades of research and numerous laboratory studies, horizontal transfer has never been demonstrated in the field. As a result, the importance of horizontal transfer (and the resulting secondary kill) for practical pest management remains unknown. The goal of this study was to provide the first experimental examination of horizontal transfer under field conditions. The specific objective was to investigate horizontal transfer of fipronil in field colonies of black carpenter ants, Camponotus pennsylvanicus. RESULTS: Laboratory experiments demonstrated that fipronil is effectively transferred from treated donors to untreated recipients and causes significant secondary mortality. Fipronil was effectively vectored to untreated ants from donors exposed via residual and direct spray applications, and 100% mortality was achieved with both exposure routes. Furthermore, horizontal transfer continued beyond secondary mortality and resulted in significant tertiary mortality, which has not been previously demonstrated in ants. Field experiments utilized a novel, three-step control method consisting of trap-treat-release and demonstrated that fipronil is effectively transferred when foraging workers are trapped, treated, and subsequently released back into their colonies. CONCLUSION:The current study is the first field demonstration of the importance of horizontal transfer for the control of pest ants. The trap-treat-release method may be an effective alternative to broadcast spray applications and could help alleviate problems such as insecticide run-off, environmental contamination, and non-target effects. This method has the potential to provide effective management of invasive and pest ants and should be further tested across a wider range of ant species, habitats, and active ingredients.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trap–treat–release: horizontal transfer of fipronil in field colonies of black carpenter ants, Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Buczkowski

2019

Pest Management Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Baits may be especially effective in spring, when overall ant numbers are low and colonies are growing (Nelson and Daane 2007). It is likely that widespread commercial adoption of liquid baits will not reach its full potential until better delivery systems are developed, such as the use of gel formulation delivery systems (Buczkowski et al 2014, Tay et al 2017.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foraging Distance of the Argentine Ant in California Vineyards

Hogg

Nelson

Hagler

et al. 2018

Journal of Economic Entomology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Argentine ants, Linepithema humile (Mayr) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), form mutualisms with hemipteran pests in crop systems. In vineyards, they feed on honeydew produced by mealybugs and soft scales, which they tend and protect from natural enemies. Few options for controlling Argentine ants are available; one of the more effective approaches is to use liquid baits containing a low dose of an insecticide. Knowledge of ant foraging patterns is required to estimate how many bait stations to deploy per unit area. To measure how far ants move liquid bait in vineyards, we placed bait stations containing sugar water and a protein marker in plots for 6 d, and then collected ants along transects extending away from bait stations. The ants moved an average of 16.08 m and 12.21 m from bait stations in the first and second years of the study, respectively. Marked ants were found up to 63 m from bait stations; however, proportions of marked ants decreased exponentially as distance from the bait station increased. Results indicate that Argentine ants generally forage at distances <36 m in California vineyards, thus suggesting that insecticide bait stations must be deployed at intervals of 36 m or less to control ants. We found no effect of insecticide on distances that ants moved the liquid bait, but this may have been because bait station densities were too low to affect the high numbers of Argentine ants that were present at the study sites.

show abstract

“…To overcome the limitations of insecticide spraying and conventional liquid baiting, research has been done using synthetic and natural hydrogels to deliver liquid bait to ants without using commercial bait stations or dispensers ( Boser et al 2014 ; Buczkowski et al 2014a , b ; Rust et al 2015 ; Tay et al 2017 ; Cooper et al 2019 ). Hydrogels can be used as controlled-release vehicles because they keep the liquid sucrose bait palatable for an extended period by retaining water ( Buczkowski et al 2014a , b ; Rust et al 2015 ).…”

Section: Hydrogel Baitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Apart from using natural hydrogel to deliver contact insecticides, our research group has proposed the potential of alginate hydrogel as an alternative matrix for absorbing and delivering liquid sucrose baits to ants ( Tay et al 2017 ). Using 0.0001% thiamethoxam as an AI, the efficacy results from the laboratory and urban field settings (i.e., 79% reduction in ant activities; estimated by consumption of a sucrose solution in monitoring vials over 24 h) showed good promise and support the use of alginate hydrogel baits for larger area-wide applications ( Tay et al 2017 ).…”

Section: Alginate As An Ant Baitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogels: From Controlled Release to a New Bait Delivery for Insect Pest Management

Tay

Choe

Mulchandani

et al. 2020

Journal of Economic Entomology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Here, we review the literature on the development and application of hydrogel compounds for insect pest management. Researchers have used hydrogel compounds for the past few decades to achieve the controlled release of various contact insecticides, but in recent years, hydrogel compounds have also been used to absorb and deliver targeted concentrations of toxicants within a liquid bait to manage insect pests. The highly absorbent hydrogel acts as a controlled-release formulation that keeps the liquid bait available and palatable to the target pests. This review discusses the use of various types of hydrogel compounds in pest management based on different environmental settings (e.g., agricultural, urban, and natural areas), pest systems (e.g., different taxa), and modes of insecticide delivery (e.g., spray vs bait). Due to their unique physicochemical properties, hydrogel compounds have great potential to be developed into new and efficacious pest management strategies with minimal environmental impact. We will also discuss the future research and development of hydrogels in this review.

show abstract

Development of an alginate hydrogel to deliver aqueous bait for pest ant management

Abstract: Alginate hydrogel beads provided an effective delivery system for liquid baits laced with low concentrations of insecticide to control Argentine ants. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

Cited by 34 publications

References 52 publications

Trap–treat–release: horizontal transfer of fipronil in field colonies of black carpenter ants, Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Trap–treat–release: horizontal transfer of fipronil in field colonies of black carpenter ants, Camponotus pennsylvanicus

Foraging Distance of the Argentine Ant in California Vineyards

Hydrogels: From Controlled Release to a New Bait Delivery for Insect Pest Management

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About