Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-2003

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Business Administration

Major Professor

Bruce E. Tonn

Committee Members

John D. Peine, Michael L. McKinney

Abstract

This thesis outlines a management plan for Gateway communities to use as a preparedness guide dealing with the establishment of the hybrid species of the Imported Fire Ant (IFA). The red species of IFA, Solenopsis invicta Buren, and the black species of IFA, Solenopsis richteri Forel, are located in southern Tennessee, but it appears that it is the hybrid species of their crossbreeding that is migrating into east Tennessee. The two species of IFA and their hybrid are moving north, both by natural migration and by being brought into the east Tennessee area on landscape plant materials and by the movement of infested soil and hay. The red and black species seem to be less cold tolerant than the IFA species hybrid. It appears that the hybrid IFA is currently migrating into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and new IFA mounds have been found from Fort Loudon Lake eastward along the Foothills Parkway, and east and south movement into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been noted by the Tennessee State Department of Agriculture and Park Service personnel, primarily along power line cuts and logging roads where the natural forest vegetation has been disturbed. Due to the economic impact on tourism and human and animal health related problems that develop after the establishment of the IFA in a community, it was determined that it would be helpful to develop a management plan based on current pest control recommendations for the IFA and also to evaluate the recommended management practices that have been helpful in other southern states that have been infested with the IFA for several years. Recommended management practices for established populations of IFA’s include cultural (physical and mechanical), biological (natural enemies), organic (natural pesticides) and chemical (synthetic pesticides) control measures. These treatment option criteria are developed for local sites such as schools and parks in the Decision Matrix.

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