1. Where did the ants come from?
Credits: Left to right: © Matthew Hinton ( (sent an Nov 02/2016 asking permission, awaiting response), © Eli Sarnat, Share Alike CC BY-SA Licence and © Phil Lester.

2. What are we going to learn today?
Understand where the top five invasive ant pests come from.
How these ant pests arrive in the country.
Perform an experiment to find out what attracts these ants.
How we can use the information from our experiments.
Credits: Image from Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

3. Let’s recap In our previous lesson, we
learnt about the top five invasive ant pests and the problems they cause people, agriculture and the natural environment. learnt that not all ants are invasive.
learnt about the life cycle and structure of their colony.
Credits: Image from Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

4. Where did the ants come from?
? Yellow crazy ant
African big headed ant
Red imported fire ant
Argentine ant
Little fire ant
It is uncertain exactly where the top five invasive ant species originally came from. Scientific evidence suggests that, little fire ants came from Central America, red imported fire ants and Argentine ants came from South America, yellow crazy ants came from Asia and African big-headed ants came from Africa.
Credits: World map from free clipart site

5. How do ants get from one country to another?
© Meghan Cooling
It only takes one queen ant to start an invasion.
They may be hiding almost anywhere.
Whole nests can be hidden in soil around potted plants or in a single coconut or macadamia nut!
What other places might they be hiding?
Invasive ant species travel by hitchhiking! It only takes one queen ant to start an invasion. They may be hiding in fresh produce, in people’s luggage, on in other cargo like, machinery, appliances, vehicles or building materials. Whole nests can be hidden in the soil around potted plants. These are called pathways. It is important to check all pathways before they are allowed into the country.
Credits: centre photo © Meghan Cooling – Pacific Biosecurity; other photos clockwise from top left © Shutterstock / Branko Jovanovic, ©David Wall, © Shutterstock / JetKat, © Shutterstock / Olga Pink, © Sarah Kelemen Garber CC BY 2.0, © Julie’s Flower Shoppe, © Shutterstock / Ksander, © Carlos Amarillo / Shutterstock, © richardsgardencenter.com, © Hawaii Department of Agriculture, © ?, © Allan Burne Pacific Biosecurity
Although queen ants have wings, no ant is able to fly the long distances between Pacific countries.
And it only takes one queen ant to start an invasion!

6. Where else do you think they are hiding?
Credits: Image from Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

7. Let’s do a Think-Pair-Share
Now its your turn to try it!
Step 1: Think about the possible places the ants could be hiding. Step 2: When you teacher tells you to, find a partner or you can have groups of 3 and share what your ideas Step 3: When the teacher tells you to, return as a class and share your conservations with everyone!
More information about Think-Pair-Share strategy can be found here:

8. Where might we find invasive ants?
How they come into the country:
Ports
On ships
Airports
Unloading areas
Storage areas
When cargo, especially sea containers, vehicles and appliances are brought in to the country invasive ants that have been hitching a ride on them will go in search of food or a new place to nest. Placing food lures in plastic pots at regular intervals around the port or other entry or storage area will attract any newly arrived ants and allow them to be trapped and identified.
Credits: © Allan Burne – Pacific Biosecurity, Image of plane courtesy of satit_srihin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image of plane courtesy of satit_srihin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

9. How do we find ants when they arrive?
Biosecurity!
Biosecurity officers check incoming goods at airports and ports to detect invasive ants
When the pathways that ants use to enter a country have been identified (e.g. fresh produce, vehicles etc.) it is important to check those goods for ants at the border. When there are lots of things coming in it can be too much work to check them all. As some items are stored at the ports where they arrived it makes sense to monitor those ports for newly arrived ants. Put down attractive lures at regular intervals to attract and trap any ants. The samples can then be collected and identified. There is always a chance that something might escape – it only takes one queen ant to start an invasion! If the community knows what to look for , they can report any new or problem ants they encounter. Posters are a great way to let the community know what you are looking for and who to call if they find it.
Credits (clockwise starting at top left): © Carolina K. Smith MD / Shutterstock.com

10. How do we find ants when they arrive?
Biosecurity!
Lures (sugar, peanut butter) placed in ports attract ants
When the pathways that ants use to enter a country have been identified (e.g. fresh produce, vehicles etc.) it is important to check those goods for ants at the border. When there are lots of things coming in it can be too much work to check them all. As some items are stored at the ports where they arrived it makes sense to monitor those ports for newly arrived ants. Put down attractive lures at regular intervals to attract and trap any ants. The samples can then be collected and identified. There is always a chance that something might escape – it only takes one queen ant to start an invasion! If the community knows what to look for , they can report any new or problem ants they encounter. Posters are a great way to let the community know what you are looking for and who to call if they find it.
Credits (clockwise starting at top left): © Flybusters Anti Ants /MPI

11. How do we find ants when they arrive?
Make communities aware of the problems ants can cause. Community members can be on the lookout for invasive ants
When the pathways that ants use to enter a country have been identified (e.g. fresh produce, vehicles etc.) it is important to check those goods for ants at the border. When there are lots of things coming in it can be too much work to check them all. As some items are stored at the ports where they arrived it makes sense to monitor those ports for newly arrived ants. Put down attractive lures at regular intervals to attract and trap any ants. The samples can then be collected and identified. There is always a chance that something might escape – it only takes one queen ant to start an invasion! If the community knows what to look for , they can report any new or problem ants they encounter. Posters are a great way to let the community know what you are looking for and who to call if they find it.
Credits (clockwise starting at top left):© Pacific Biosecurity; © Kirsti Abbott

12. Activity Time! We are going to conduct an experiment on ant attraction!
Credits: Image from Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

13. Experiment -Attracting ants
You can use lures to attract ants! Here is how you can make some lures,
Steps
What you have to do
Step 1:
Use a range of different foods: sweet (honey, jam or toilet paper soaked in sugar water) and savoury (fish, peanut butter, corned beef).
Step 2:
Put a fingernail sized blob of food on pieces of card or in plastic cups.
Step 3:
Make up around 20 lures – the more lures you make, the higher the chances of you attracting more ants!
Step 4:
Leave the lures in different places outside for minutes in shaded spots around the school grounds. Record the number of ants you observed at each lure.
Biosecurity is the name for protecting people and the environment from harmful organisms (like invasive ants)
How can we detect ants that have been overlooked?
Credit: © Allan Burne Pacific Biosecurity © Monica Gruber

14. Attracting Ants! We are going out to conduct our experiment now.
Some simple rules to remember:
Always take care of one another.
Take care not to damage any other parts of nature.
If in doubt, always ask the teacher.
Retrieve all experiments, do not leave any food behind.
Be back to the classroom on time.
Credits: Image from Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

15. What food did the ants like best?
number of ants
Credit: © Allan Burne Pacific Biosecurity
Type of food
Make a bar graph (or any other charts) of the number of ants on different foods, and the different types of ants you found (if there were different types).

16. Examples of charts

17. What can we do with the data?
Class responses:
Now that we know what attracts the ants and make them come, what can we do as a community to stop them? Record your responses as a class.
Credits: Image from Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

18. What we have learnt today
Understand where the top five invasive ant pests come from.
How these ant pests arrive in the country.
How we can use the information from our experiments to help us make decisions.
Credits: Image from Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of TAW4 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

19. See you next time!
Credits: Image from Image courtesy of arztsamui at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of arztsamui at FreeDigitalPhotos.net