A recent article in Florida Today (FT) “Invasive fire ants spread, get boost from climate change in Florida” is not just false—it’s a classic case of alarmist reporting that ignores decades of entomological and ecological data. Fire ants have been widespread in Florida for decades, the existing climate being conducive to their flourishing across much of the country. The climate has not changed in any meaningful way to make the spread of fire any colonies to new locations more likely.
An excerpt from the FT article states:
With temperatures rising and winters getting milder, invasive fire ants are finding it easier to expand their range across Florida. Climate change, scientists say, is giving the ants a leg up, pushing them farther north and deeper into the state.
It’s a tidy story for headline writers, but it glosses over the well-established reasons behind the spread of fire ants—namely, accidental introduction through global and regional trade, poorly regulated movement of nursery stock and soil, and the absence of natural predators in North America.
The science is clear: fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) first arrived in Mobile Alabama via South American shipping in the 1930s—not because of climate change, but thanks to lax port controls as documented by USDA’s APHIS website. Their spread consistently is tracked with expansions of highways and railroads, plus the movement of landscaping materials, not minor temperature shifts. Even the University of Florida’s IFAS Extension points to “human-assisted movement of infested sod, soil, nursery plants, and other materials” as the primary culprit. This becomes clear when you look at the timeline of fire ants in Florida based on multiple sources of data, including a peer-reviewed study from the University of Texas.
This table summarizes the timeline:
This timeline clearly underscores that the fire ant invasion in Florida has been overwhelmingly complicit with human-mediated transport and habitat alteration—not a result of minor climate fluctuations. Indeed, as the timeline shows, fire ants first landed in northern Florida, the portion of the state that experiences cooler, sometimes freezing temperatures, far more often than any other region of the state. The red imported fire ant’s rapid spread is attributed to its ability to adapt to new environments, its lack of natural predators in the US, and its accidental dispersal through cargo, soil, and nursery stock.
The facts show that fire ants spread explosively in the 1940s through 1970s northward from the coasts, during a period when the Earth was modestly cooling, decades before “global warming” became a household term. Nor is there any evidence the modest warming experienced in North Florida, or elsewhere in what is already fire ant range, has made the invasive pest more likely to flourish than it already does.
To claim otherwise, as Florida Today does, is journalistic malpractice. By promoting climate alarmism, while ignoring the data, Florida Today does a disservice to readers and local policy makers alike. One wonders whether the editorial staff even bothered to consult entomologists before greenlighting this copy-paste climate narrative, which is nothing more than misinformation.
Originally posted at ClimateREALISM
The reporter and his editor ought to be staked out on a fire ant mound, at least until the climate changes.
This is an example of how propaganda proliferates. Drop the bomb, hope for destruction, follow up with more bombs until the proletariat is convinced. Wash, rinse, repeat. As long as you control the bombs you’re infallible. Was the bomb a dud? Drop more and cover all bases .
Blaming climate change for whatever is simply lazy science. Just too lazy to understand what is the real cause of the fire ant population increase.
Fire ants dont crawl very fast, so a 10 mile a year migration would be expected. 1930 to 2025 is about 95 years,
so 950 miles from the mobile alabama since the 1930’s seems reasonable rate of migrations
and the mating ants fly! no need to hike.
Idea for a kids’ game – “Scientists Say”, based on the game “Simon Says”. If “scientists say” it, then of course it’s true and you have to do what they say. Fun for the whole family as you laugh (or cry) at some of the wild, silly stuff they say. Age 6 and up. Patent pending.
The appeal to authority is rampant.
There was a time when we were taught that if it was printed it had been verified and was true. Newspapers went out of their way to not get litigated.
There was a time when we were taught computers do not lie.
Missing from that is that software can be created that does lie.
Now instead of books and newspapers, we have online digital media.
The perfect storm of computers do not lie and if it is printed it must be true.
Sadly our major media companies are no longer the holders of the flames of truth and honesty, but rather have been purchased and are no profit centers for large corporations.
Being profit centers they have to make a profit. Sensationalize to get the ad clicks.
So, instead of objective news reporting, we get advocacy journalism (you can get college credits for this) and the intent it to get an emotional thought at the expense of critical thinking/analysis.
The outcome of all this may ironically be that most people become skeptical of everything they hear and now even what we see.
I have a pet theory that such an inordinate amount of money has been wasted on AI systems that create fake reality, expressly to produce an environment where elites caught red-handed in their crimes will be able to plausibly claim that the video evidence is just a ‘deep fake’.
“which is nothing more than misinformation”
It is possible it is “merely” misinformation.
It is possible is is disinformation.
Disinformation is misinformation intended (key word) to deceive.
Fire ants have been a problem in Florida since they invaded from Alabama. I remember the B-17 Bombers dumping the poison mirex on us in the late 60’s. Probably caused more cancer in people than the ants it killed.
Good posting, Anthony. Here’s another one: CNN had a brief segment this morning about Climate Change producing a 44% increase in turbulence injuries in commercial flights in the United States, from the 1970’s until now. A quick check of facts shows an average of 14,000 commercial flights per day in the United States in the 1970’s, versus 30,000 per day currently, an increase of more than 100%. So it appears that Climate Change has REDUCED, by more than half, the rate of turbulence injuries in commercial flights between the 1970’s and now. Fixed it. Next.
WUWT has 4 or 5 old posts on this. Paul Homewood had one on Aug 1st of this year.
Excuse me. I never saw the earlier posts, and I wonder how they fit in with me seeing this CNN story this morning?
CAGW clowns doing what they do best, lying.
Journalists must have associations whereby things important to them are discussed. Someone ought to post on a message board something such as this: “Fellow comrades – – If you write an article blaming climate change for anything, you will certainly be wrong and be known as a fool.”
Corollary: Expanding on stories from the police blotter are less likely to do you harm.
Fire ants destroyed the horned toad population in Texas. The horned toad population was not destroyed by climate change.
We had the same stupidity about cane toads in Australia with wanna be eco warrior journalists picking up an old study as reference
https://phys.org/news/2010-07-warmer-invasive-cane-toads-global.html
The fact the cane toads are already evolving to tolerate a wider range of temperatures which was covered by actual scientists with proper research in 2014 they don’t read
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.12255
All you do is put “climate change” in the article and the crap gets published even though it’s obvious the toads are going to spread with or without climate change.
Most of the fire ants where I live n Florida are gone. They were killed off by Crazy Ants! I haven’t had them in my yard for 10 years.
I first learned about the fire ant when I was about 6 years old, early 1960s). My uncle showed me a fire ant bed on my grandfathers farm. The ant hill was a large dirt pile. He stirred up the mound and it turned bright red. He warned me about their danger to human and cattle. Their bite/sting results in pain and the welp can last for days. DO NOT SCRATCH THE BOBO it will only last longer. We still have many in the yard and keeping them under control is a constant battle. Witch Hazel with ethanol helps a lot to shorted the life of the welp.
The witch hazel goes on the welt, the ethanol goes straight up?
Climate change, if it ever existed outside of a spreadsheet, nah, global warming would have enabled the migration from south to north. The fire ants entered in the north and migrated south.
Conjecture effectively disproven.