# Are fire ants beneficial in any way?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 14, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742 "2006-06-14T23:04:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/1 "2006-06-14T23:04:41Z")
As I attempt to fight back hordes of the nasty, stinging little critters that have currently invaded my office, and contemplate how I routinely have to store opened bags of potato chips in the fridge at home to keep the little buggers from getting at them, I find myself thinking that maybe a nuclear winter wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. Since that’s not a very charitable attitude, I’m willing to be convinced that fire ants are somehow valuable to the ecosystem.
So can anyone tell me, are fire ants good for anything?
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/2 "2006-06-14T23:08:09Z")
They come in handy when you’ve got your enemy naked, tied spreadeagle, and doused with honey…
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### Author:  [@samm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samm)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/3 "2006-06-14T23:25:51Z")
google: fire ants benefits
[Florida State Researcher Defends Fire Ants](http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=84&sid=817805)
“The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates fire ant damage and control total $6 billion a year. But even critics concede they also can be beneficial by killing other insect pests.”
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/4 "2006-06-14T23:28:32Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#):
>
> So can anyone tell me, are fire ants good for anything?
[Fire ants are a good research topic, plus, they are loveable.](http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060612/NEWS/606120361/1004)
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/5 "2006-06-14T23:28:59Z")
In North America? No, probably not. Besides being a pest to humans, they also drive out native ants, and may change the local ecosystem and affect nutrient cycling.
In their native range in South America they may be beneficial to humans in some way, but I doubt it.
But of course, fire ants are only interested in being beneficial to themselves, and they are very very good at it.
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### Author:  [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/6 "2006-06-14T23:31:29Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#):
>
> As I attempt to fight back hordes of the nasty, stinging little critters that have currently invaded my office, and contemplate how I routinely have to store opened bags of potato chips in the fridge at home to keep the little buggers from getting at them, I find myself thinking that maybe a nuclear winter wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. Since that’s not a very charitable attitude, I’m willing to be convinced that fire ants are somehow valuable to the ecosystem.
>
> So can anyone tell me, are fire ants good for anything?
Nobody expects you to have to tolerate fire ants in your office. Hoever they are God’s creatures too and if He hadn’t thought their design was “good” He wouldn’t have designed them that way. 😉
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### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/7 "2006-06-14T23:37:30Z")
Oh, come on - fire ants have a perfectly good benefit: They convince a lot of people that it’s bad to exercise, if they might encounter fire ant nests while doing sit-ups.\*
This lack of exercise helps to lead to the ‘epidemic’ of obesity in this country.
Which will lead to an upswing in heart disease and other premature terminations of those without the genetics to handle the extra mass.
Thus preventing those who check out early from getting Alzheimer’s Disease.
See - fire ants prevent Alzheimer’s Disease!
\*Not that I’d know anything about that. Nor about swelling up like a balloon. Nor about popping a button off my uniform shirt. Not me. Never.
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### Author:  [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/8 "2006-06-15T00:33:08Z")
They’re pretty awful, but I did notice that, in my garden in Mississippi, their old nests had really made the crappy clay soil fairly friable. The fact that they can deal with really bad soil and still tunnel through is another scary part of their plot to overthrow the world, though, and doesn’t outweigh their bad traits.
Still, one afternoon I watched a batch of fire ants prepare for their winged compadres to take off. It was really amazing, like a busy airport…the winged ants were thouroughly attended too by their sisters, a big production. I give em an A plus for industriousness, and sneaky infiltration. Biological success story. They work damn hard at what they do.
Invasive as all git out though, ruthless, displace and harm other critters. That’s a nasty way to be, and one worth noting in any thought of a particular species bulldozing it’s way through the world.
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### Author:  [@qubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qubed)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/9 "2006-06-15T00:45:38Z")
The WSJ just had an article on this yesterday (article requires a $$$ subscription) saying that the drought in Texas has reduced the fire ant population significantly, and some ranchers actually want them back. Among the reasons are:
1. They kill and eat numerous other pests. One rancher commented he’s now seeing ear ticks in his cattle which he hasn’t seen in over 30 years. However, the correlation with the decline of the fire ant and the increase in other pests is not yet proven.
2. The ants dig through a lot of soil, apparently moreso than earthworms. This makes plantlife around fire ant mounds often healthier.
3. Worker productivity is apparently higher because no one stands around anymore. However, this comment may have been made tongue-in-cheek.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/10 "2006-06-15T00:53:11Z")
> [@David Simmons](#):
>
> Nobody expects you to have to tolerate fire ants in your office. Hoever they are God’s creatures too and if He hadn’t thought their design was “good” He wouldn’t have designed them that way. 😉
Before the fall of man, they could talk; they only ate lightly-steamed spinach (which they cooked for themselves); they behaved with impeccable manners and they could lift one Billion times their own weight - allowing Adam and Eve to use them as a mode of transport.
I hope that clears up the question of their proper place in the universe.
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### Author:  [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/11 "2006-06-15T02:25:55Z")
> [@samm](#):
>
> google: fire ants benefits
>
> [Florida State Researcher Defends Fire Ants](http://www.federalnewsradio.com/?nid=84&sid=817805)
>
> “The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates fire ant damage and control total $6 billion a year. But even critics concede they also can be beneficial by killing other insect pests.”
> [@the linked article](#):
>
> Besides being deadly to people who are allergic, fire ants destroy crops, damage irrigation systems, kill wildlife, short-out air conditioning systems and undermine roads with their tunnels, he said.
.
Er, and those are the benefits, apparently.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/12 "2006-06-15T02:30:03Z")
Well, if nothing else, they are presumably a food source for birds or other insectivores.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/13 "2006-06-15T02:35:19Z")
> [@elelle](#):
>
> Invasive as all git out though, ruthless, displace and harm other critters. That’s a nasty way to be, and one worth noting in any thought of a particular species bulldozing it’s way through the world.
Rather like humans in that regard. 😉
From the article linked to above:
> [@](#):
>
> To Tschinkel, though, fire ants are just another opportunistic species.
>
> “They are less invasive than we are,” he said.
>
> . . .
>
> “Humans make habitat for fire ants and fire ants are very abundant and, therefore, I’m provided with abundant research material,” Tschinkel said. “My favorite phrase is `Man is fire ants’ best friend.’”
Tschinkel mentions another benefit of fire ants:
> [@](#):
>
> “Most people hate fire arts without reservation, without reflection,” he wrote. “Perhaps that is what the fire ant has to offer us \_ something we can all agree to hate, something about whose reprehensibility there is no argument, something we can blame and that won’t argue back.”
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### Author:  [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/14 "2006-06-15T03:43:26Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri]
Rather like humans in that regard. 😉
Glad, and I knew you’d get it. Thanks for the additional quotes.
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/15 "2006-06-15T14:03:06Z")
Fire ants eat termites, according to [this site](http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~gilbert/research/fireants/faqans.html).
I can live with the fire ants if they will keep the termites away.
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### Author:  [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/16 "2006-06-15T16:15:04Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> In North America? No, probably not. Besides being a pest to humans, they also drive out native ants, and may change the local ecosystem and affect nutrient cycling.
>
> In their native range in South America they may be beneficial to humans in some way, but I doubt it.
>
> But of course, fire ants are only interested in being beneficial to themselves, and they are very very good at it.
Wait. Colibri, isn’t the OP about niches that fire ants fill, places in various food chains that they occupy, positions within various ecosystems they take, etc. ?
Isn’t he looking for ANY good reason to help him justify their existence? Clearly, their presence on the orb indicates some function(s) in the greater scheme. What preys on these little buggars? How DO they fit in?
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/17 "2006-06-15T16:38:17Z")
> [@CC](#):
>
> Clearly, their presence on the orb indicates some function(s) in the greater scheme.
Or it might just show that God’s inordinate fondness for beetles extends to other six legged creatures as well.
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### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/18 "2006-06-15T17:37:31Z")
> [@Squink](#):
>
> Or it might just show that God’s inordinate fondness for beetles extends to other six legged creatures as well.
I don’t see why you conclude that God brought fire ants to earth. It’s a well-known fact that [Satan created house centipedes](http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1734175), for instance.
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### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/19 "2006-06-15T17:42:52Z")
It’s possible that the earth is here for THEM and WE are the pests. Edward O. Wilson said (iirc) that if we were to render up all the earth’s biomass into a chemical soup, the dominant chemical in that soup would be formic acid, produced by ants.
I don’t know if that claim takes bacteria into consideration. 🙂
Sailboat
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### Author:  [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)
#### Post date: [June 15, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/20 "2006-06-15T18:04:03Z")
> [@](#):
>
> From the linked article: “The Fire Ants.” The 723-page epic, published by Harvard University Press…
Oooo, where can I get a copy of that, it sounds fascinating. :rolleyes:
Honestly, 723 pages!? Get a life.
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