Hydrogel baits pose minimal risk to non-target insects and beneficial species

摘要

Invasive ants are a significant pest around the world and have negative impact on natural and agricultural environments. Chemical control is mainly accomplished with residual sprays and toxic baits. Hydrogel baits are a novel bait formulation that has proven highly effective against multiple invasive ant species, but potential non-target effects have not been investigated. The baits are typically saturated in 25% sucrose solution which makes them attractive to foraging ants and potentially non-target organisms such as pollinators. The objective of the current study was to perform field studies to assess the potential attractiveness of hydrogel baits to various pollinating and non-pollinating arthropods in a variety of ecosystems, including tallgrass prairies, urban pollinator gardens, and commercial apiaries. The study focused on social Hymenoptera as pesticides are acutely toxic to various Hymenoptera and have been implicated as one of the contributing factors in pollinator declines. Results show that Diptera were overwhelmingly the most common visitors and accounted for >40% of all visitors. Other common groups included beetles and yellowjackets. Common pollinating insects such as honeybees, solitary bees, and butterflies rarely visited the baits and accounted for ca. 3% of all visits and were never found on ground baits. Results show that the risk to pollinators is relatively low; most arthropods attracted to the baits were taxa that are extremely abundant, not of conservation concern, and in some cases pestiferous or invasive. The deployment of hydrogels for invasive ant control in areas where multiple invasive insect taxa are present may have the additional benefit of controlling multiple pests.