Are fire ants worse this spring because of Hurricane Harvey?

Ecologists are checking to see if floods gave advantage to invasive ants

Date:  March 26, 2018

Source:  Rice University

Summary:

Ecologists are checking to see if Hurricane Harvey's unprecedented floods gave a competitive boost to fire ants and crazy ants, two of southeast Texas' least favorite uninvited guests.

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Fire Ants Make Themselves into Rafts to Float to Safety in Houston

By Sarah B. Puschmann, Staff Writer | August 29, 2017 05:53pm ET

As floodwaters rise in Houston and its surrounding area, fire ants are staging their own type of evacuation, by floating to safety on rafts made out of their own bodies.

On Sunday (Aug. 27), CBS News correspondent Omar Villafranca tweeted a photo of a huge raft of fire ants seen in Houston — yet another danger inhabitants of southeastern Texas have had to contend with since Tropical Storm Harvey made landfall as a hurricane on Friday night (Aug. 25).

Omar Villafranca 

Aug 27, 2017

In the United States, fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) primarily inhabit the Southeast. When faced with a flood, they emerge from the soil, and form a floating raft by linking their bodies together. Rafts made up of as many as 8,000 ants have been observed, according to a 2011 study performed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. The ants' ability to trap air pockets makes them buoyant and, for the submerged ants at the bottom of the raft, provides a source of oxygen, according to the study. 

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The Endangered Baby Turtles in Harvey’s Path - a Desperate Race to Save Them – via Herp Digest

Washington Post, 8/25/17 by Andrew deGrandpre

As storm surges drown eggs and rough surf strands weeks-old hatchlings, workers at Sea Turtle, Inc., a rescue and rehabilitation non-profit based on South Padre Island, are racing to save endangered sea turtles.

Rescue center staff began preparing for Harvey on Wednesday, collecting eggs from nests along 50 miles of beach from the Rio Grande River to Port Mansfield.

“We knew the surge would be significant enough that that the eggs would have been drowned, said Jeff George, Sea Turtle, Inc.’s executive director.

Once recovered, the eggs were placed in sand inside styrofoam coolers. They’re now incubating in a warm, dark room until they can be re-released after the hurricane.

On Saturday, staff will turn to the task of rescuing helpless baby turtles washed up on shore. Because it’s hatching season, hundreds of thousands of recent hatchlings are now riding the currents in the Gulf of Mexico. Ordinarily, the turtles would spend the first year to two years of life hiding in floating seaweed; once washed ashore, they have no way to fend for themselves against predators.

The first two stranded hatchlings that were rescued Wednesday. (Daniel Blue Tyx)

“We’re going to be driving in four-wheel-drive vehicles, going slowly looking for turtles that aren’t much bigger than the palm of your hand,” George said. “We could potentially see hundreds of post-hatchlings washed up on beaches.”

The first two stranded hatchlings have already taken up temporary residence at the Sea Turtle, Inc. rescue center. Reaching into a white utility sink in a back room, George pulled out a turtle in each gloved hand. One was a Hawksbill, just two to three weeks old, that the storm had carried far off course from its nesting beach in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.

The other was a critically endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, which nests only in northeast Mexico and the Texas Gulf Coast.

“This is the most endangered of all sea turtles,” George said. “These guys are out there at the mercy of the currents and storms.”