Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-qs9v7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-08T17:45:16.260Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Food quality and foraging response by the subterranean termite Coptotermes formosanus shiraki (isoptera: rhinotermitidae)*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Deborah A. Waller  and
Jeffery P. La Fage
Deborah A. Waller
Affiliation:
Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA
Jeffery P. La Fage
Affiliation:
Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In previous laboratory studies, it was demonstrated that baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) diets eliminated a critical gut protozoan, Pseudotrichonympha grassii, from Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki. The present authors surveyed field colonies of C. formosanus confined within baldcypress trees growing in a river in Louisiana and found P. grassii was present. Termites inhabiting baldcypress trees preferred pine (Pinus) and rejected baldcypress in choice tests in the field. Significantly more termites were recruited to baits when twice as much pine was offered, indicating that C. formosanus adjusted its foraging response to resource amount. In laboratory tests, sound baldcypress sapwood and heartwood depressed survival and gut protozoan counts in C. formosanus, but baldcypress infected with the basidiomycete fungus Rigidoporus sp. and an unidentified imperfect species was favourable for the termites and their symbionts. These results suggest an important role for microbial modification in termite host selection.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 77 , Issue 3 , September 1987 , pp. 417 - 424
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carter, F. L., Mauldin, J. K. & Rich, N. M. (1981). Protozoan populations of Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki exposed to heartwood samples of 21 American species.—Mater. & Org. 16, 29–38.Google Scholar
Davidson, R. W., Lentz, P. L. & McKay, H. H. (1960). The fungus causing pecky cypress.—Mycologia 52, 260–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esenther, G. R. (1977). Nutritive supplement method to evaluate resistance of natural or preservative-treated wood to subterranean termites.—J. econ. Ent. 70, 341–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haverty, M. I. & Nutting, W. L. (1974). Natural wood-consumption rates and survival of a dry-wood and a subterranean termite at constant temperatures.—Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 67, 153–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haverty, M. I. & Nutting, W. L. (1975). Natural wood preferences of desert termites.—Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 68, 533–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, C. G. (1984). Microorganisms as mediators of plant resource exploitation by insect herbivores.—pp. 54–99in Price, P. W., Slobodchikoff, C. N. & Gaud, W. S. (Eds.). A new ecology: novel approach to interactive systems.—New York, Wiley.Google Scholar
La Fage, J. P. & Nutting, W. L. (1978). Nutrient dynamics of termites.—pp. 165–232 in Brian, M. V. (Ed.). Production ecology of ants and termites.—409 pp. Cambridge, UK, Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Mannesmann, R. (1972). Relationship between different wood species as a termite food source and the reproduction rate of termite symbionts.—Z. angew. Ent. 72, 116–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mannesmann, R. (1973). Comparison of twenty-one commercial wood species from North America in relation to feeding rates of the Formosan termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki.—Mater. & Org. 8, 107–120.Google Scholar
Mauldin, J. K., Rich, N. M. & Cook, D. W. (1978). Amino acid synthesis from 14C-acetate by normally and abnormally faunated termites, Coptotermes formosanus.—Insect Biochem. 8, 105–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sands, W. A. (1969). The association of termites and fungi.—pp. 495–524 in Krishna, K. & Weesner, F. M. (Eds.). Biology of termites. Vol. I.—598 pp. New York, Academic Press.Google Scholar
Smythe, R. V. & Carter, F. L. (1970). Feeding responses to sound wood by Coptotermes formosanus, Reticulitermes flavipes, and R. virginicus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae).—Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 63, 841–847.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traniello, J. F. A. (1982). Foraging behavior in Lasius neoniger and Monomorium minimum: the ecological consequences of recruitment.—p. 41 in Breed, M. D., Michener, C. D. & Evans, H. E. (Eds.). The biology of social insects. Proceedings of the 9th Congress of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects, Boulder, Colorado, August 1982.—419 pp. Boulder, Westview Press.Google Scholar
Williams, R. M. C. (1965). Infestation of Pinus caribaea by the termite Coptotermes niger Snyder.—Proc. XIIth Int. Congr. Ent., 675–676.Google Scholar