Dr Ben Hoffmann is researching strategies to manage invasive pest ants.

Dr Ben Hoffmann: applied ant ecology in northern Australia

Dr Ben Hoffmann's research focusses on the invasive ecology and management of pest ants, and the distrubance ecology of native ant communities and their use as bio-indicators in land management.

• 30 October 2007 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Dr Ben Hoffmann is working with local Indigenous rangers on the ecology and management of invasive ant species across the Top End of the Northern Territory.

Invasive ant species in northern Australia pose a major threat to ecosystems and lifestyles. In natural environments, pest ants can eliminate many native animal species and seriously disrupt ecological processes.

Pest ants can also cause damage both to crops and domestically, where they destroy electrical items and are a social nuisance.

Dr Hoffmann is involved in the following pest ant projects:

• research into the eradication and invasion ecology of Yellow Crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes) in north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory
• eradication of African Big-headed ants (Pheidole megacephala) and Tropical Fire ants (Solenopsis geminata), on the Tiwi Islands north of Darwin
• eradication of African Big-headed ants in the Brown's Creek area on the Daly River in the Northern Territory.

Dr Hoffmann also leads a project using ants and other invertebrates as indicators of the success of minesite rehabilitation of open-cut bauxite mining at Gove.

Background

Dr Hoffmann developed an interest in ants when he was a secondary school student undertaking work experience at CSIRO in Darwin in 1990.

His research into pest ants began in 1996, when he investigated the ecological impacts of the African big-headed ant (Pheidole megacephala) at a conservation park near Darwin for his Honours thesis. He then commenced his doctoral studies with CSIRO and Charles Darwin University on using ants to monitor environmental health.

In the late 1990s African big-headed ants were discovered in Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. In 2000 Dr Hoffmann led a joint CSIRO and Parks Australia initiative to eradicate the pest ant from the park.

By December 2002, Big-headed ants and Tropical Fire ants were completely eradicated from Kakadu. In the words of The Hon. Mr Peter McGauran, the then Minister for Science, 'This is the largest eradication of a pest ant infestation in the world, and the only one to have occurred in a National Park.'

More recently Dr Hoffmann  has been working with the Dhimurru Aboriginal Land Management Corporation, the Northern Land Council and Alcan and on the control of the Yellow Crazy ant in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. The ant, recognised by the Global Invasive Species Programme as one of the world’s worst invaders, represents a major environmental and economic threat to northern Australia.

Academic qualifications

Dr Hoffmann has been awarded:

• a Bachelor of Science with Honours
• a Doctor of Philosophy from the Northern Territory University, Darwin (now Charles Darwin University) under the supervision of Dr Alan Andersen in 2000.

Achievements

Dr Hoffmann is a member of the:

• Ecological Society of Australia
• Northern Territory Horticultural Association.

Dr Hoffmann has received the following awards for his research work:

• CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Division Divisional Award for Partnership Excellence, 2005
• Fresh Science Award Winner, National Science Forum, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2002.

Read about Invasive species in the rangelands and savannas.