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Subsistence Farmers’ Management of Infestations of the Little Fire Ant in Garden Plots on Bauro, Makira Province, Solomon Islands

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A Commentary to this article was published on 10 March 2017

Abstract

The little fire ant Wasmannia auropunctata is known to negatively impact the native fauna of tropical islands in the Pacific and its sting is a nuisance to farmers in their garden plots. We examine whether the presence of the little fire ant has the potential to disrupt subsistence gardening practices, with implications for livelihoods and wellbeing. We used structured questionnaires, analysed quantitatively, with 90 participants from the Central Bauro area, Makira, the Solomon Islands, and more detailed semi-structured interviews, analysed qualitatively, with another six people. Our results show that the presence of the little fire ant affects gardening activities by reducing time spent working effectively, influencing decisions about where to make gardening plots, discouraging children’s participation, and changing traditional gardening practices. We also find that the longer the ant is present, the more tolerant Central Bauro subsistence farmers become of its presence.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the help provided by chiefs, elders and the people of the Central Bauro area in Makira Province, Solomon Islands.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia

    John Fasi, Michael J. Furlong & Diana Fisher

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  1. John Fasi
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Correspondence to John Fasi.

Ethics declarations

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in compliance with the University of Queensland Institutional Ethical Standards, which complies with provisions contained in the National Statement of Ethical Conduct in Human Research and complies with the regulations governing experimentation on humans.

Funding

This study was supported by an Australian Award Scholarship to JF, and an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research grant (HORT/2010/090) to MJF.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Fasi, J., Furlong, M.J. & Fisher, D. Subsistence Farmers’ Management of Infestations of the Little Fire Ant in Garden Plots on Bauro, Makira Province, Solomon Islands. Hum Ecol 44, 765–774 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-016-9856-3

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