PROGRESS REPORTtoSTATE OF HAWAI`IDEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCESDIVISION OF FORESTRY AND WILDLIFE
fromUNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‘I
Office of Research Services
2440 Campus Road, Box 368
Honolulu, HI 96822
Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa

Hawai‘i Ant Lab Statewide funding 2021

March 1 to August 31, 2021

Summary
The Hawai‘i Ant Lab (HAL) is a collaborative project of the Pacific Cooperative Studies Unit (PCSU), Universityof Hawai‘i. This contract is for the partial provision of core funds to allow the Hawai‘i Ant Lab to provide ongoingsupport for invasive ant management statewide and maintains a critical mass needed to provide these support
services. This report relates to DLNR contract C11129 (PCSU account 4505564).
The HAL is a point-of-contact for conservation agencies, industry and members of the public on any matter
involving identification and control of invasive ants. The HAL is developing a regional and global reputation as acenter of excellence and cutting-edge research on biosecurity, pest ant management and ant taxonomy. Daily
services provided by the Hawai‘i Ant Lab include the following:• Operate and maintain a 24/7 telephone contact service for members of the public.
• Provide a diagnostic service to members of the public and other conservation agencies.
• Develop, update and promote the www.littlefireants.com website• Produce “fact sheets” providing practical advice to residents and industry.
• Provide ongoing advice, expertise and assistance to island invasive species committees as needed.
• Regular speaking engagements to associations and societies, including public displays.
• Conduct monthly training days for residents and industry groups.
• Provide training in identification, awareness and control practices to other agencies such as island ISCs, Hawai‘i
Department of Agriculture and DLNR.
• Manage new detections of LFA on neighbor islands, develop and implement eradication plans for these.
• Prevent and mitigate infestations that threaten public safety or act as vectors for inter- and intra- island spreadof invasive ants.

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Impact of COVID19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic on HAL work program
The Sars-CoV-2 pandemic reduced the ability of HAL to execute its work program during this reporting
period. HAL staff worked remotely and avoided working in indoor locations, training larger groups (>10persons) in order to minimize infection risks to staff and stakeholders. The restrictions imposed by publichealth agencies and government changed frequently and were different on each island. HAL adapted to
the new working environment by operating and meeting in a virtual team environment with access to data
and resources via cloud-based systems already in use. Each HAL team member prepared a designatedoffice area in their home with office and lab equipment taken from the regular workplace.
Much of the work program continued as in pre- COVID19 conditions, modified in order to ensure that
COVID19 risks were not increased as a result of work tasks. The major changes in work practices are listed
below:Staff meetings
In lieu of regular monthly office meetings, staff met twice-weekly on the Zoom™ platform. This is more
frequent than usual HAL practice which is one meeting per month. However, with all staff working
remotely, additional interaction was necessary to ensure the HAL work program was delivered efficiently
and effectively.
In-person meetings
In-person meetings were reduced to those that could comply with social distancing and other covid
guidelines. The new ant-management clinic format, employing the Zoom™ platform gained traction
during this period and attendance has steadily increased.
Farm visits and site meetings
All staff followed HAL safety protocols which had been developed for field and office-based work. Fieldinteractions were limited to 10 participants or less. The HAL Hilo office was staffed on a rolling schedule
to ensure availability of one staff member in the office during normal business hours. Personnel had, atall times, authority to cease any activity they believed increased their risk of being infected with COVID19or potentially impacting on their health or the health of others.
Inter-island travel
All inter-island, interstate and international travel was suspended pending easing of restrictions as
specified by recognized medical experts.
…~~o00o~~…

Program highlights
Operations
During the reporting period, Operations continued within the restrictions mandated as a result of the SarsCoV-2 pandemic but changed frequently as infection rates first declined then increased substantially withthe arrival and spread of the Sars-CoV-2 Delta variant (B.1.617.2 and AY lineages).
A total of 21 surveys (7,002 vials) and 13 treatment events were completed. These were primarily
conducted at critical sites deemed a high priority on Hawai`i island. These sites included the major points
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of entry, greenwaste distribution facilities and properties managed by the UH College of Tropical
Agriculture and Human Resources. Table one provides a summary of activities for the reporting period.
HAL operations staff also collaborated in the development and refinement of a new data collection andmanagement system (NRDS) which is slated to become the predominant data collection system statewide.
Table 1. Summary of survey and treatment activities for March-August 2021

location
CTAHR, Komohana
CTAHR, Waikea
Hilo Greenwaste
Hilo Sea port
ITO airport
Kawaihae Seaport
KOA airport
Kona Green waste

total# vials treatment# surveys

target

1
3
62
3
123

13
62
2
122

410
1,200
803
881
1,648
352
925
783

4
121

19

7,002

13

4
4…~~o00o~~…
Extension
HAL receives ant samples for identification, e-mails, and calls from members of the public and industryrequesting advice and resources for surveillance and treatment activities. Table 2 summarizes theseactivities. Public and industry interaction has almost returned to pre-pandemic levels with the exceptionof presentations and informational booths at conferences, workshops and plant societies. The teamcontinues to update extension and training materials to reflect advances and changes to treatment andsurvey methods, availability of registered pesticides and other information related to invasive ants.
New fact sheets and extension materials were developed and distributed as appropriate to pesticide
distributors, libraries, and other locations over the island for public access. The website continues to beimproved to keep pace with contemporary standards.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the extension team pivoted from in person training, presentations, andevent booths to mostly online training. Some in-person training events continued for small groups whenthese were able to be conducted in outdoor locations and within social distancing guidelines and othersafety measures in place. A total of 13 in-person training events, reaching 80 persons, were scheduled
and completed during the reporting period (Table 3).
A total of 3,472 clicks were recorded on the HAL littlefireants.com website (Figure 1). Visitation
increased predictably during this period as the seasons progressed from early spring to end summer when
ant activity is at its highest. During this period, and for the first time, the majority of devices used toaccess the website were mobile cellular devices (54%) vs desktop computers (43%) and tablets (3%). The
resources downloaded most frequently were HAL Fact Sheet #8 (guide for homeowners), the recipe forTango® Bait and the keys to ants of Hawaii.
3Table 2. General extension metrics for reporting period.
1 Sept 2021 to Feb 28 2022

Percent
progress
81
117
222

targetpublic calls and emails
Mail-in samples
public submissions
website visits
at presentations
AMZ(oom) participants

700

400
1180
6

2055

total

1,411

1,666

181

300

1 March to 31 Aug 2021

total

Source567
349
667
Website data are reported separately

Table 3. Summary of stakeholder presentations for the reporting period.
Date
3/19/2021
4/9/2021
4/30/2021
5/11/2021
5/13/2021
5/21/2021
5/21/2021
6/25/2021
7/30/2021
8/5/2021
8/13/2021
8/27/2021
8/31/2021

Group
AMZ!
Site Visit (Mauna Kea Cacao)
AMZ!
Site Visit (Kahale O' Kiolaka'a)Site Visit (DOFAW Mauna Kea)
HDOA Pesticides Branch
AMZ!
AMZ!
AMZ!
Farm Visit
Farm Visit
AMZ!
Farm Visit
total

Type of outreachTraining
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training
Training# people
3162
315
5662
425
280

Presenter
Cas/ Michelle/Alison
Heather/ Alison
Cas/Michelle/Alison
Heather/ Alison
Heather/ Alison
HeatherCas/ Michelle/Alison
Cas/ Michelle/Alison
Heather/Cas/MichelleHeatherHeather
Alison/Cas/Michelle
Kiyoshi/ Alison

4littlefireants.com clicks
1000
900
800
700
600
500
4003002001000MarchAprilMayJune

Ju ly

AugustFigure 1. visitation to www.littlefireants.com website…~~o00o~~…
ResearchPublications

A manuscript detailing the LFA eradication effort at Kalihiwai, Kauai was completed and submitted tothe journal Biological Invasions in July, 2021 and is currently under review. A preprint of this manuscript
is available here https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-697858/v1.pdf?c=1631903796000 . A second
publication is in progress detailing the results from a 2020 Laboratory experiment testing efficacy ofEntrust SC in the HAL gel bait.
Field Trial

An EUP was granted to conduct field efficacy trials comparing Entrust SC (Spinosad) in the HAL gel bait
against Firefighter Fire Ant Bait and Altrevin Fire Ant Bait. The first treatment was conducted in May,
2021 however post treatment monitoring suggested the Altrevin Faire Ant Bait used during treatment hadgone bad and was no longer effective. Because of this, we had to find and order fresh product and wait for
the ant populations to fully rebound to pre treatment levels before re-starting the field trial. The field trial
was restarted August 3, 2021 and is currently in the “Round 1” post treatment monitoring phase.
Laboratory Experiments and Testing

Recently, questions regarding use of neem oil for control of LFA has come up public inquiries. We
conducted an unofficial, observational, lab trial to see if neem oil is effective when used per label
instructions as a contact insecticide compared with soapy water and regular tap water. Our observations
were that neem oil and soapy water were equally effective at killing ant on contact. However, past fieldtrials and research has suggested contact insecticides are not effective at managing LFA.

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NRDS App Beta Testing

We have been testing a new survey and data collection app for ant surveys through the Mamalupoepoe
project and have been working with the developers to refine and streamline the apps workflow. The app
is intended to standardize data collection among partners working on the Mamalupoepoe project and has
great potential to standardize data collection for ant surveys when multiple partner organizations andagencies are involved. We plan to fully implement using the app during airport surveys and potentiallyfor all other ant survey work.
Industry Assistance

In late 2020, it was noticed that our inventory of 2 commercial bait products manufactured by Neudorff
had spoiled despite being unopened and not being in storage for more than several months. We were able
to determine the cause of spoilage and have been working with the manufacturer to resolve the issues.
…~~o00o~~…

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