Effect of Organic and Inorganic Landscape Mulches on Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) Foraging Activity

This research investigated whether organic and inorganic landscape mulches, which buffer soils against temperature extremes and desiccation, create conditions conducive to subterranean foraging by Reticulitermes virginicus (Banks). In the field, termite activity was measured with cardboard monitors...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental entomology 2001-10, Vol.30 (5), p.832-836
Main Authors: Long, Catherine E, Thorne, Barbara L, Breisch, Nancy L, Douglass, Larry W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Autoecology
Biological and medical sciences
foraging
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
landscape mulch
PHYSIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL ECOLOGY
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Reticulitermes
Reticulitermes virginicus
Rhinotermitidae
subterranean termites
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Summary:This research investigated whether organic and inorganic landscape mulches, which buffer soils against temperature extremes and desiccation, create conditions conducive to subterranean foraging by Reticulitermes virginicus (Banks). In the field, termite activity was measured with cardboard monitors placed beneath and within plots of eucalyptus, hardwood, pine bark, and pea gravel mulches, and bare ground (control). Gravel mulch provided higher feeding rates in underground monitors. Groundcover type had no significant effect on the number of monitors discovered by termites or the number of termites within each monitor. All groundcovers significantly reduced the temperature of the soil surface compared with bare soils, but temperature and moisture levels 12 cm below mulch-covered surfaces were not significantly different from those beneath bare soil. In the laboratory, R. virginicus were fed one of the three organic mulches or a control diet of white birch, Betula papyrifera (Marsh), as their only food source. All diet types were consumed at equivalent rates, but the mulch-fed termites suffered significantly lower survivorship.
ISSN:0046-225X
1938-2936
DOI:10.1603/0046-225X-30.5.832