[at-l] Fire Ants

[Tom McGinnis]

--- On Thu, 4/5/12, Tim Rich <athiker89 at yahoo.com> wrote:

When fire ants are in wooded areas, their mounds are not as large or even noticeable as they are in a yard, pasture or field, so it's a bit tough to recognize them from a distance.  They will default to less compacted soils, so areas around shelters may not have a mound, but just off into the woods could be many. The lack of hiker observations isn't surprising.

### Well, there's that, and the whole 16°F freezy thing -- I've been on Springer (or the neighborhood) at 0°F for a week at a time. Felix finished his SOBO at 5°F... etc etc. As a ridge trail, the AT ground is "in the wind", and when the atmosphere is stirred up by landforms, the colder air has an excuse to settle in the hollows. (Did I just describe the Smokys??) So, it'd be hard for fire ants to survive in mountain areas, even in Dixie.

Between the soil compaction (and availability of flammable liquids Whoot!) and the atmospheric stirring of a ridge trail..... I'm thinking it'd be dang hard for a fire ant colony to make a descent living.

ImanentomologistwhenImfishingtoe