FASE New Investigator Seed Grant: Impacts of imported fire ant on pests and beneficial insects along the invasion frontier

Imported fire ants (IFA; Solenopsis invicta, S. richteri, and their hybrid) are among the most economically and ecologically impactful invasive insects in North America. While long-established in the southern US, they are currently expanding their range northward and encountering new cropping systems, organisms, and abiotic conditions, transforming ecosystems along the way. Invading fire ants change arthropod communities and reorganize interaction networks that regulate pests. They occupy a peculiar niche because they function simultaneously as natural enemies of crop pests and also as pests themselves, both directly if they attack crops and perhaps more often indirectly when they protect aphids and/or interfere with other natural enemies. Thus, their net effects are difficult to disentangle.