Legislation introduced as pests pose significant threat to biosecurity

The Biosecurity Law, which took effect in April, underscores the prevention and control efforts needed to tackle new or sudden outbreaks of infectious diseases and epidemics related to animals and plants.

The law was introduced as China marked its sixth National Security Education Day.

A total of 660 invasive species has been detected in China, 71 of which pose threats to or have threatened the country's ecological system, according to a statement issued last month on ecological and environmental conditions.

Nature reserves across the country have been infested by 219 species, said the statement, titled Ecological and Environmental Conditions in 2020, which was released by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

Luo Lizhi, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences' Institute of Plant Protection, said there is evidence that red fire ants pose a significant threat to biological security.

They prey on invertebrates such as insects and snails, and also on vertebrates, including mammals and birds, he said.

In the southern United States, animal species, including more than 20 types of native ants and a butterfly species, are declining and even facing extinction due to imported red fire ants.

In some parts of China, the number of insect species in areas where there are fire ants has fallen by 35 percent compared with places where the insects have not been reported.

"When conducting experiments in Guangdong province and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, we found the populations of earthworms and local ants decreased dramatically in areas seriously infested by fire ants, but quickly recovered after the ants were eradicated in a certain region," Luo said, adding that the same situation had occurred in the US.

Red fire ants will result in a serious decline in the number of other insects, including native ants, and will also cause the deaths of some birds, frogs and other species that live on insects, Luo said.

"Concern about the staggering damage these insects cause to biosecurity made Australia determined to eradicate imported red fire ants, and it has achieved a 99 percent success rate," Luo said.

According to the government in the Australian state of Queensland, the country made inroads to eradicating the ants by launching the 10-year National Red Imported Fire Ant Eradication Program, the largest such project undertaken globally.

Lu Yongyue, director of the red fire ants research center at South China Agricultural University, said China's Biosecurity Law provides a new opportunity for the country to enhance red fire ants prevention and control work.