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Plan for Delimiting Survey Of CASAP submission to the senate inquiry into environmental biosecurity Status of yellow crazy ant within Australia and its territories. The adequacy of arrangements to prevent the entry and establishment of invasive species likely to harm Australia's natural environment, including recent biosecurity performance and Australia's state of preparedness for new environmental incursions September 2014 Enquiries should be addressed to: Chair CASAP Prof. Alan Andersen CSIRO Land & Water PMB 44 Winnellie NT 0822 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... 3 Yellow crazy ant background information .................................................................................. 4 Name ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Origin ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Impacts .................................................................................................................................. 4 Infestations ............................................................................................................................ 5 Habitat ................................................................................................................................... 5 Distribution............................................................................................................................. 6 Ease of local eradication ....................................................................................................... 7 Australian incursions and responses ......................................................................................... 8 Christmas Island .................................................................................................................... 8 Queensland and New South Wales ...................................................................................... 9 Darwin ................................................................................................................................. 10 North east Arnhem Land ..................................................................................................... 10 Background ..................................................................................................................... 10 Institutional responses .................................................................................................... 10 Yellow crazy ant as a National issue ....................................................................................... 12 Potential distribution in Australia ......................................................................................... 12 Recent intercepts of YCA by AQIS ..................................................................................... 13 Vectors of spread to Australia ............................................................................................. 14 Vectors of spread within Australia ....................................................................................... 15 Prevention and management plans .................................................................................... 15 References .............................................................................................................................. 17 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Christmas Island Crazy Ant Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAP) provides scientific and technical advice to Parks Australia to inform pest ant management on Christmas Island and Pulu Keeling National Parks, with a particular focus on the implementation of the ten-year Crazy Ant Management Strategy for Christmas Island. The Yellow crazy ant (YCA), Anoplolepis gracilipes, is ranked among the worst invasive species globally because of its well-known and severe environmental impacts on native flora and fauna, ability to reduce crop productivity, and for being a social nuisance. YCA populations occur on mainland Australia along the east coast and within NE Arnhem land and offshore on Christmas Island and the Cocos Keeling Islands. All populations except those in Queensland outside of the Cairns region and on the Cocos Keeling Islands are undergoing eradication or control measures. Management in Queensland is being conducted by the Wet Tropics Management Authority with assistance from Biosecurity Queensland, management in Arnhem Land is being conducted by Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation in collaboration with CSIRO and Rio Tinto Alcan Gove, and management on Christmas Island is being conducted by Parks Australia North. The largest incursion is within NE Arnhem land, having approximately 100 discrete populations scattered throughout a 16,000 km2 region. Within 10 years, YCA has been declared eradicated from 25 sites covering 79 ha in Arnhem land, and is believed to have been eradicated from a further 30 sites covering more than 1000 ha that has not been assessed. Ecological monitoring at 17 sites has quantified full ecological recovery within 12 months following treatments. In the past 10 years, YCA has also been eradicated from Goodwood Island in NSW (< 1 ha), Portsmith in Cairns (6 ha), Darwin (< 1 ha) and possibly at numerous other locations throughout Queensland that have not been assessed. Management on Christmas Island has repeatedly suppressed YCA levels below which it can kill land crabs, and is soon to (following approval) release a biocontrol agent against red lac scale (the ant’s symbiont) that is envisaged to provide more permanent control that suppresses the ant’s population. Funding for all YCA programs has historically been ad-hoc, short-term, lacking continuity, and largely dependent upon competitive funding by federal grants. YCA eradication or management should be of a high national priority because it: 1. It has a proven track record for being a highly successful invader; 2. It explicitly meets objectives of the National Tramp Ant Threat Abatement Plan; 3. It is considered to have contributed to the first extinction of an Australian vertebrate (the Christmas Island Pipistrelle) for 50 years, and such outcomes are likely to repeat if the ant is allowed to spread within Australia; 4. Investment now for containment, eradication or management will prove to be far more cost effective than the inevitable need for numerous management efforts in other locations in the future; and 5. There are important social and cultural benefits for Indigenous Australians associated with its management. 3 YELLOW CRAZY ANT BACKGROUND INFORMATION Name The Yellow crazy ant (YCA), Anoplolepis gracilipes, presumably gets its common name from its fast and frenetic behaviour displayed when a nest is disturbed. Much of the literature of this species is written using its previous scientific name Anoplolepis longipes. Other prior scientific names are Formica longipes and Plagiolepis longipes. Plate 1. Yellow crazy ant worker and queen. Photo:Phil Lester. Origin The native range of YCA remains unknown because it has spread globally before it was known from its location of origin. The most likely region appears to be SE Asia. Impacts YCA is ranked as one of the world’s worst pests because it has adverse environmental, agricultural and social impacts. Environmental issues are evident as the ant is an active predator that is capable of achieving extremely high population densities (approximately 1000 per square metre or 79 million per hectare), and is efficient at killing or displacing much of the native invertebrate faunas. This is best demonstrated on Christmas Island where it has killed or displaced millions of Red land crabs (O’Dowd et al. 1999). Because Red land crabs are a keystone species in the forest ecology of Christmas island and the flow on effects are so substantial, there has been a complete change in the structure of the forests where YCA has invaded, and this ant is now implicated in the possible extinction of multiple endemic species. Like many ant species, YCA forms close associations with phytophagous bugs as their diet is dependent on the honeydew produced by these insects. YCA protects the bugs in exchange for the carbohydrate rich exudate, and as a result the populations of the insects can rise to such levels that they become lethal to the host plant. The plants die either through a severe reduction in plant health due to copious loss of phloem sap, the possible spread of pathogens by the bugs, or by the growth of sooty mould promoted by excess honeydew and subsequent loss of ability to photosynthesise. This habit of harbouring bugs makes the ant a pest in crops throughout the tropics as they predominantly reduce plant productivity. Ironically, this ant had a history of being deliberately spread to crops in many regions as it was thought that their aggressive behaviour would eliminate crop pests. While some protection was provided, the damage caused by the phytophagous insects that the ants tended outweighed any benefits from reduction of target pests. YCA is also reported to be a pest in households and other buildings (Lewis et al. 1976, Haines and Haines 1978a, Veeresh and Gubbaiah 1984). This nuisance aspect can also become a health issue when soft skin, particularly eyes, come into contact with the formic acid spray produced by the ants when agitated. 4 Infestations YCA forms multi-queened
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