Population Size And Foraging Activities Of The Odontotermes Formosanus

Odontotermes formosanus(Shiraki)cause significant ecomonic loss in agricultural crops,forest,reservoirs and households.In this paper,the characters of baiting materials and foraging activities of O.formosanus were investigated.The main results are as follows.1.Among the three kinds of baiting materials,pine block,garden waste shatter and dead plant,pine block has little attraction to the termites and is therefore not recommended for trapping termites in the field.Garden waste shatter and dead plant can effectively attract O.formosanus.A single garden waste shatter monitoring device trapped maximum of 3272 termites and minimum of 197 termites,averaging at 1480 termites.A single dead plant monitoring device trapped maximum of 1689 termites and minimum of 43 termites,averaging at 827 termites.A single pine block monitoring device trapped maximum of 87 termites and minimum of 31 termites,averaging at 59 termites.2.Indoor staining of O.formosanus with Neutral Red as dyeing marker and filter paper as feed has the advantages of high dyeing rate and low mortality,and is therefore suitable staining method for determination of O.formosanus population size and activity range.The survival rate was 91% after 3days of forced feeding with filter paper stained with 0.2% Neutral Red.Neutral red concentration of0.1% was better than the concentration of 0.2% in controlling mortality,as survival rates in the 4th and5 th day of treatment,86% and 88.33% respectively,were higher.3.Our results showed that the numbers of feeding individuals in the 4 O.formosanus populations under study were 443133±45469、495360±67429、674345±101703 and 1224662±93112 respectively.The number of feeding individuals was positively correlated with termite body length.4.The maximum foraging distance and range were 10.62 m,14.71 m,14.78 m respectively,and39.4m2,110.14m2 and 84.15m2 respectively for the 3 termite populations.According to the experiment results,when using the monitoring(trapping)devices on garden tree termite control,the recommended embedment spacing is 5-8 m.Such distance can achieve satisfactory control effect,and reduce unnecessary investment of manpower and material resources as well.