Revised benefits and costs of eradicating the red imported fire ant

*[The key to assessing ecosystem values lost to RIFA in the modelled impact zone is benefit transfer. The original values were for a US ecosystem that is less productive than that of the RIFA impact zone, & assessed for a society whose environmental preferences are similar to Australia's. Subjective measures of the RIFA impact on specific ecosystem values were used to discount the transferred ecosystem-service values according to the expected spread of the ants. The present value of RIFA damage in the modelled impact zone has an indicative figure of around $43 billion dollars, with an unknown error margin. This figure would be significantly higher if spread outside the impact zone were also considered. The flows of undiscounted costs & benefits of RIFA eradication within the modelled impact zone are illustrated.]