A single invasive species reshaped Georgia’s farmland for decades, and now fire ants are vanishing from fields where they once dominated. Scientists investigating the sudden disappearance have identified an unexpected force already halting their spread, and farmers are noticing the difference.
Since 2019, entomologist Sara Colby has conducted fire ant density surveys across agricultural corridors in southwestern Georgia, working from the University of Georgia campus in Tifton, within the state’s peanut and cotton belt. Her monitoring protocol was straightforward: fixed survey lines along the same field margins, shrub lines, and pasture edges each growing season, using standard mound cou…