Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** regulated pests like imported…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** regulated pests like imported fire ants have quarantine certification treatments that allow the movement of nursery plants from infested to non-infested areas. These treatments are often expensive, impractical, time-consuming or utilize older pesticide chemistries with negative user effects and uncertain future availability. This project aims to reduce some of the green industry producer impacts associated with the management of imported fire ants in nursery settings to meet federal quarantine requirements. To achieve this goal, we will focus on two objectives: 1) develop a detection and classification system for imported fire ANT colonies using an unmanned aerial vehicle and two camera sensors to create site-specific maps where thermal and color image acquisition, image preprocessing, image fusion, and an artificial intelligence model training and validation will be accomplished and 2) develop a strategic extension plan to disseminate the UAV-based colony management technological knowledge among nursery growers with an introductory survey, field demonstrations, workshops, and outreach publications. The foundation for a site-specific imported fire ANT colony management technology will be constructed through this project. The proposed technology will have several impacts, including 1) allowing regulatory personnel to quickly gauge the effectiveness of various best management programs to reduce colony densities on nursery properties, 2) allowing nursery personnel or UAV consulting companies to rapidly locate and treat colonies on the property, and 3) addresses a USDA regulatory concern regarding human search consistency inadequacies in fire ANT management programs.