College of Agriculture > Entomology and Plant Pathology > Fire Ants

Education and Outreach

The education and outreach of the Fire Ant Management Program is directed towards increasing the public's general knowledge of fire ant biology and management in the form of an exhibits and demonstrations.

The fire ant exhibit has drawn crowds at the Alabama National Fair, the National Peanut Festival, Ag Roundup, the Southeastern Agricultural Exposition, the Louise Kreher Forest Ecology Preserve, the Oxbow Meadows Insect Festival, Callaway Gardens' Insect Encounters Weekend, Montgomery Zoo's Earth Day Safari, School Day at the Baldwin County Fair, and in 2002 made its way to the Fifth Annual Food and Agricultural Science Exhibition and Reception at Washington, D. C.

This exhibit has also been used in workshops that train middle school science teachers. These workshops train teachers how to conduct simple fire ant projects and then incorporate these projects into their classroom. Projects like these increase student's knowledge of science, math, and fire ants.

Fire Ant Bait Demonstrations

Demonstrations have been a tool in the right hand of extension agents throughout the history of the extension service. In the case of the Alabama Fire Ant Management Program, fire ant bait demonstrations show people how following the lable, applying the right bait, at the correct rate, at the right time of year can achieve very realistic satisfactory fire ant control.

Educational Fire Ant Posters Available for Download

Presented at the Alabama National Fair

• Decapitating Fly Poster
• Update on Phorid Flies
• Fire Ant Bait Poster
• Talladega Superspeedway

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Posters

• Fire Ant Biology: Colony Establishment
• Fire Ant Biology: Life in the Mound
• Biological Control of Fire Ants using Phorid Flies
• Fire Ant Management
• Using Bait to Manage Fire Ants

Entomological Society of America Posters

• Poster Presented at ESA Meeting 2001
• Poster Presented at ESA Meeting 2002
• Poster Presented at ESA Meeting 2003
• Poster Presented at ESA Meeting 2003
• Poster Presented at ESA Meeting 2004
• Poster Presented SEB-ESA Meeting 2005
• Poster Presented at the XII Interanational Congress of ESA-Brisbane, Australia

Last Updated: March 28, 2013