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Termite Colony Development and Ecology

Termite Colony Development and Ecology. Dr. Richard Houseman Assistant Professor of Entomology Division of Plant Sciences University of Missouri. Successful Termite Treatments . Know something about: Termite Colonies Distribution Capabilities Control Tactics Methods

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Termite Colony Development and Ecology

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  1. Termite Colony Development and Ecology Dr. Richard Houseman Assistant Professor of Entomology Division of Plant Sciences University of Missouri Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  2. Successful Termite Treatments • Know something about: • Termite Colonies • Distribution • Capabilities • Control Tactics • Methods • Benefits and Limitations Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  3. Termite Colonies • Colony development • Simple families grow to become large networks. • 30-50 first year • 387 ± 226 by second year (55 lab colonies) • 50,000 to >1,000,000 individuals at maturity • Slow growth rate while young • Rarity of primary queens when large Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  4. Termite Colonies • Become large, interconnected networks • Population centers of various sizes • Located in/around food resources • Connected by a system of ‘roads’ • Varying levels of activity in different galleries • Colony has a home range • Home ranges have been estimated using mark-release methods Kansas IPM Education October 2005

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  6. Termite Colonies • Area • R.flavipes: 18m² (4x4m) to 2400m² (50x50m) • R.hageni: 2m² (1x2m) to 20m² (4x5m) • R.virginicus: 1m² (1x1m) to 8m² (3x3m) • Linear distances • R.flavipes: 8m to 79m • R.hageni: 12m • R.virginicus: 5m Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  7. Termite Colonies • In Florida • Ranged from <30m² to 230m² • Most less than 30m² (5x6m) • How many colonies around a typical home? Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  8. Termite Colonies • Colonies are ‘mobile’ within home range • Headquarters not stationary • Explore, occupy, and then leave resources • Distribution changes over time • Changes in resource, environment • Risk of certain population centers becoming isolated Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  9. Budding • Division of Existing Nest • Gradual and passive • Sudden and accidental • Formation of secondary reproductives • Two weeks to four months’ time • Unique reproductive stage for Reticulitermes Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  10. Budding • Secondary reproductives • Lower individual fecundity than primaries • Egg production correlated with abdomen size • Higher numbers • 100’s or 1000’s clustered in nest with sex ratio heavily skewed toward females. • Greater total reproductive output Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  11. Termite Populations • Multiple colonies interacting • Encounter one another in home ranges • Antagonistic responses • Between species • Between colonies of the same species • Between established and incipient colonies • High aggression seems absent/rare for R.flavipes colonies Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  12. Changes in Home Range • Variation seasonally • Three dimensional • Up-down (Houseman and Gold 2000) • Side-to-side (Houseman and Gold 2002) • Influenced by • Food Resources • Soil temperature • moisture Kansas IPM Education October 2005

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  15. Mean depth of R. flavipes during each month of the year in College Station, TX.(Houseman 2000) 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 M A M J J A S O N D J F Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  16. Relationship between R. flavipes mean depth and mean maximum soil temperature during each month of the year. (Houseman 2000) 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 cm Soil Temperature Kansas IPM Education October 2005

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  19. R.hageni R.flavipes Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  20. The cumulative number of monitoring stations located and the number of stations occupied by R. hageni at successive sampling intervals. Kansas IPM Education October 2005

  21. The cumulative number of monitoring stations located and the number of stations occupied by R. flavipes at successive sampling intervals. Kansas IPM Education October 2005

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  30. Seasonal changes in the spatial pattern of monitoring stations occupied by R. hageni and R. flavipes as measured by the lacunarity index with a moving box size of four. 16 R.hageni R.flavipes 14 12 10 Lacunarity 8 6 4 2 Jan Jul Jan Jul Jan Jul Jan Kansas IPM Education October 2005 Date

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  32. Thank you. Questions or Comments? Kansas IPM Education October 2005

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