A Bioeconomic Model of Little Fire Ant Wasmannia auropunctata in Hawaii

Reports were scanned in black and white at a resolution of 600 dots per inch and were converted to text using Adobe Paper Capture Plug-in.Wasmannia auropunctata, known as the Little Fire Ant (LFA), was first detected on the island of Hawai‘i (the Big Island) in 1999. It was most probably introduced through imports of contaminated potted plants from mainland USA. We estimate that LFA has now spread to over 4,000 locations on the Big Island and under current management efforts will spread rapidly inundating the Big Island in 15-20 years. Increased efforts in prevention, detections, and mitigation treatments will suppress existing infestations, reduce rate of spread and decrease long term management costs, damages, and human stings. Benefits from increased management are estimated to be $5 billion savings including $540 million in reduced damages and 2.1 billion fewer sting incidents over 35 years.This research was supported in part by the Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture Research (TSTAR) Program (Award Number 2010-34135-21228), The National institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), US Department of Agriculture (USDA