# Are fire ants beneficial in any way? **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/21 "2006-06-15T18:19:44Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] 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. [/QUOTE] Obviously, _you’ve_ never had your entire leg bitten by a nest of them. Thirty years later, I still have some scars. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/22 "2006-06-15T18:31:12Z")
[QUOTE=YaWanna] Obviously, _you’ve_ never had your entire leg bitten by a nest of them. Thirty years later, I still have some scars. [/QUOTE] Actually I have. On more than one occasion. I must not scar as easily as you, though. 🙂 Fire ants are an annoyance. Termites cost me money. Given a choice between the two, I’ll take the fire ants. ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/23 "2006-06-15T18:48:03Z")
Fire ants are more than an annoyance. They can be deadly if you are severely allergic to their venom and don’t know it. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/24 "2006-06-15T18:55:10Z")
[QUOTE=alanak] 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. [/QUOTE] Technically, it was Monday that they had a front page article on fire ants, for anyone researching it. [Quote=Wall Street Journal] \*\*In Texas, Some Pine For Ornery Varmints Driven Underground — Bug Experts Say Fire Ants Keep Other Pests in Line; An Explosion of Chiggers \*\* The dry spell plaguing Texas over the past four years has driven fire ants, which hate dry conditions, deeper underground. Dr. Drees, who works at Texas A&M University, surveyed Mr. McGehee’s property last week. He saw a dramatic reduction in ant mounds while other bug populations were surging. As Mr. McGehee walked through one of his pastures on Wednesday, grasshoppers leapt up like popcorn popping around his feet. Chiggers, a tiny biting mite, have exploded. “I caught a calf the other day that had ear ticks,” he said. “I hadn’t seen ear ticks in 30 years.” [/quote] ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/25 "2006-06-15T18:57:40Z")
[QUOTE=LunaV] Fire ants are more than an annoyance. They can be deadly if you are severely allergic to their venom and don’t know it. [/QUOTE] True, but so can peanut butter. And I don’t consider peanut butter even _mildly_ annoying. 🙂 It interesting, but I’ve noticed that in these parts fire ants seem to have tken to building their nests in areas where they are less likely to be disturbed. At the edge of concrete slabs, for example, rather than in the center of a lawn. If they confine themselves to that sort of area, I can live with 'em. I’ve also noticed that the fire ants that have made it this far don’t seem to have as brutal a bit as ones I’ve encountered in more southerly locations (such as Mississippi, where I spent part of my childhood). Makes me wonder if there is some hybridization going on. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/26 "2006-06-15T19:10:35Z")
[QUOTE=CC] 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? [/QUOTE] Any organism fits into a ecosystem somehow. Every organism is preyed on (or somehow subsists on) and is prey for other organisms, and contributes to ecosystem functioning in some way. Whether it is “good” or “bad” or has “value” is entirely a subjective value made by humans. Is a higher diversity “good”? Is increased ecosystem biomass “better,” or would you prefer a more rapid rate of nutrient cycling? Unless you specify what you regard as “good” it is impossible to answer the question. Fire ants are certainly a nuisance for humans, especially so in areas like North America where they have been introduced and have no natural enemies (or less efficient ones than in their homeland), and so can spread nearly unchecked. They are undoubtedly detrimental to other species besides humans; and are also probably beneficial to some others. Even with respect to “benefits” for humans like possible effects on termites, it’s not enough to know that the ants eat termites - they also must be better at controlling termites than other species they might have replaced. Fire ants are good for themselves. That’s all the justification for their existence they really need. Humans are very very good for fire ants. Humans are not so good for humans when they spread critters like fire ants around. ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/27 "2006-06-15T20:59:59Z")
It is my understanding that in parts of Asia some women tape or glue them to their nipples in order to lighten and/or pinken their areole (areoli?). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/28 "2006-06-15T21:41:07Z")
[QUOTE=bonitahi] It is my understanding that in parts of Asia some women tape or glue them to their nipples in order to lighten and/or pinken their areole (areoli?). [/QUOTE] Say, did you wander over here from [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=375587)? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/29 "2006-06-15T22:25:05Z")
[QUOTE=Sailboat] 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 [/QUOTE] I heard an estimate on _Animal Planet_ just the other day that the total of the world’s ants outweigh the total of any other species. I’m pretty sure that’s true about the desert. When we still had a dog that I took out on the desert I noticed that ant hills are all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/30 "2006-06-16T01:36:15Z")
Thanks for all the responses so far, folks. Its true that it’s not up to fire ants to make themselves useful, or at least less annoying, to humans, but damn, are they ever a pestilence in the suburban environment. I was therefore wondering what useful (to humans, eventually) purposes they may serve, outside of maintaining their own anty lifestyles. So far, the most plausible thing I’ve heard is that the churning of the soil around their nests provides aeration, and perhaps some fertilizing function. I suppose they also provide a food source for some larger lifeforms, but the dang bugs are so small that one has to think that one would have to hoover up millions of the things to get one through till supper. BTW, two days ago one of the ants rummaging around my desk stung me between the second and third finger of my left hand. Today a wierd little white pustule, like an overstuffed zit, appeared at the site. I could practically watch it grow over the course of a couple of hours, then it rather dramatically popped. See, if all these ants did was run around and carry off crumbs of food like most of their brethren, I’d be fine, but it’s stuff like the above that has me wishing for a nice sterilizing gamma ray burst from a nearby nova. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/31 "2006-06-16T01:39:22Z")
[QUOTE=El\_Kabong] … it’s stuff like the above that has me wishing for a nice sterilizing gamma ray burst from a nearby nova. [/QUOTE] A surgically targeted “nice sterilizing gamma ray burst” I hope. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/32 "2006-06-16T01:46:21Z")
> [@](#): > > A surgically targeted “nice sterilizing gamma ray burst” I hope Well, yeah, of course; I mean, hitting a swath from Texas up to about Tennessee should be sufficient. (I keed, I keed) ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/33 "2006-06-16T03:12:34Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] Say, did you wander over here from [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=375587)? [/QUOTE] Well, yes. I was thinking areole while reading the ant thread. A streach, I know, but… ---
**Author:** ![Sharky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Sharky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sharky)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/34 "2006-06-16T03:15:06Z")
They are very useful for cleaning remnants of meat from inside conch or whelk shells or crab specimens brought home from the beach to be used for display. Simply place the shell or crab (dead, of course) on an ant mound, and a couple of days later they will have been picked clean by the ants. Interesting sidebar: The armadillos in my yard seem to _love_ to dig up fire ant mounds. I suppose their scaly skin protects them from stings, and the ant larvae are a treat for them. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/35 "2006-06-16T04:23:59Z")
This thread has timely piqued my interest (thanks, **El Kabong** ), as the nursery I work at is currently re-evaluating our shipping method of treating for fire ants. So, ina search around, found that they may be contributing to the decline, in Texas, of the Horned Toad Lizard population, due to many factors, but sounds like imported fire ants have a large role. That does it for me, I really love the Horned Toads, so fire ants suck. That said, I also found a nice article , PDF file, heads up, titled “Invasion of the Red Fire Ant: A Multi Layered Metaphor for Managing Invasion Through the Study of Behavior” by Tucker Murphy. Nicely written, with great kudos to E.O. Wilson, who, as a budding teen entomologist in Alabama, did his earliest work on the then newly arrived invaders. Worth a read. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/36 "2006-06-16T07:42:18Z")
Another little-known fact about fire ants is that they are _all called Joe_. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/37 "2006-06-16T13:41:21Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Another little-known fact about fire ants is that they are _all called Joe_. [/QUOTE] Since they are almost all females, I would suspect they are all called _Jo._🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/38 "2006-06-16T13:46:25Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] Since they are almost all females, I would suspect they are all called _Jo._🙂 [/QUOTE] That’s actually what they _want you to suspect_. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/39 "2006-06-16T14:44:45Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] Any organism fits into a ecosystem somehow. Every organism is preyed on (or somehow subsists on) and is prey for other organisms, and contributes to ecosystem functioning in some way. . . [/QUOTE] Well, not nessesarily invasive species, at least to start. Which fire ants are. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742/40 "2006-06-16T15:26:08Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] Well, not nessesarily invasive species, at least to start. Which fire ants are. [/QUOTE] Even invasive species are generally preyed on by _something_ (in the case of fire ants, the armadillo mentioned by **Sharky** , for example), but the predators are just not effective in controlling their population. And invasive species certainly affect ecosystem functioning, but they often may shift it to a new and different equilibrium. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-fire-ants-beneficial-in-any-way/360742.md?page=3)