Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 July 2009
Two trials were undertaken in North Queensland dairy pastures to test cultural and chemical control of the funnel ant Aphaenogaster pythia Forel. Funnel antinfested pasture was ploughed, cultivated and replanted with several grass species and the legume Glycine javanica. Grazing with dairy cattle was controlled to maintain a dense sward. In untreated pasture where grazing was continuous, funnel ant mound building remained consistently high over the three-year period, but where grazing was regulated mound building was significantly reduced after three months and was negligible after three years. There was a significant inverse relationship between sward density and A. pythia mound numbers.