Biology of Invasive Termites: A Worldwide Review

Evans, Theodore A.; Forschler, Brian T.; Grace, J. Kenneth

doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-120811-153554

Cited by 252 publications

(227 citation statements)

References 91 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

214

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Mention of termites commonly evokes images of tropical and sub-tropical ecosystems, yet termites are found in many temperate forests worldwide (Jones & Eggleton, 2011;Evans et al, 2013). Much important research on temperate forest termites exists, but the majority has focused on control and eradication efforts -particularly in urban settings -owing to their large economic impacts (Su & Scheffrahn, 1990;Su, 2002).…”

Section: Daniel S Maynard Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperate forest termites: ecology, biogeography, and ecosystem impacts

Maynard

Crowther

King

et al. 2015

Ecological Entomology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. 1. Wood decomposition in temperate forests is dominated by termites, fungi, and some species of ants and beetles. Outside of urban areas, temperate termite ecology is largely unknown, particularly when compared to tropical termites and other temperate organisms in the functional guild of wood-decomposing animals.2. This review combines climate habitat modelling with knowledge of species physiology, behaviour, and community interactions to identify and prioritise future research on temperate termite ecology and biogeography.3. Using a correlative climate model, the regional distributions of three common temperate forest termite species are shown to correlate with different aspects of climate (e.g. mean versus minimum monthly temperature), but that overall their distributions within temperate systems correlate more strongly with temperature variables than with precipitation variables.4. Existing data are synthesised to outline how the subterranean, wood-nesting behaviour of most temperate forest termite species links their activity to an additional set of non-climate controls: wood type and tree species, soil depth, fungal activity, ant abundances and phenology, and competitive asymmetries among termite species.5. Although fine-scale estimates of temperate termite abundances are rare, we provide upper bounds on their ecosystem impacts and illustrate how their regional abundances may influence forest structure and habitat availability for other organisms.6. This review highlights that rigorous ecological studies in non-urban, intact ecosystems -with a particular focus on community interactions -are critically needed to accurately project future abundances, economic impacts, and ecosystem effects of temperate forest termites.

show abstract

Section: Daniel S Maynard Et Almentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperate forest termites: ecology, biogeography, and ecosystem impacts

Maynard

Crowther

King

et al. 2015

Ecological Entomology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…2011; Evans et al. 2013). The success of social insects as invasive species is likely associated with their social structure, in addition to other factors such as their occupation of broad niches, high dispersal power, and effective predator defense (Moller 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population genetic structure of the predatory, social wasp Vespula pensylvanica in its native and invasive range

Chau

Hanna

Jenkins

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Invasive species cause extensive damage to their introduced ranges. Ocean archipelagos are particularly vulnerable to invasive taxa. In this study, we used polymorphic microsatellite markers to investigate the genetic structure of the social wasp Vespula pensylvanica in its native range of North America and its introduced range in the archipelago of Hawaii. Our goal was to gain a better understanding of the invasion dynamics of social species and the processes affecting biological invasions. We found that V. pensylvanica showed no significant genetic isolation by distance and little genetic structure over a span of 2000 km in its native range. This result suggests that V. pensylvanica can successfully disperse across large distances either through natural‐ or human‐mediated mechanisms. In contrast to the genetic patterns observed in the native range, we found substantial genetic structure in the invasive V. pensylvanica range in Hawaii. The strong patterns of genetic differentiation within and between the Hawaiian Islands may reflect the effects of geographic barriers and invasion history on gene flow. We also found some evidence for gene flow between the different islands of Hawaii which was likely mediated through human activity. Overall, this study provides insight on how geographic barriers, invasion history, and human activity can shape population genetic structure of invasive species.

show abstract

“…Sensitivity is a key aspect to challenge the detection of compounds in the very low volume of material available from the internal volume gut of R. flavipes, estimated at 1 µL [16]. R. flavipes is a widespread and well-studied termite species [17]. These termites belong to the subterranean species, and are smaller in size compared to drywood and dampwood species [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

GC×GC-TOFMS for the Analysis of Metabolites Produced by Termites (Reticulitermes flavipes) Bred on Different Carbon Sources

et al. 2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:More and more studies are dedicated to termites and their symbionts, to better understand how they efficiently produce energy from lignocellulose. In that context, a powerful analytical method was developed to perform the detection, separation and identification of compounds in the 1 µL fluid volume of the gut of the termite Reticulitermes flavipes. Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GCˆGC) coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS) was tested with three different column combinations: (1) low-polar/mid-polar; (2) polar/low-polar and (3) mid-polar/low-polar. The column set (3) offered the best separation and was chosen for further analysis and comparison study. Metabolites were detected in the samples, including amino acids, sugars, amines and organic acids. Samples collected from termites fed for 30 days on Avicel cellulose or xylan powder diets were analyzed and compared with the wood diet. Principal component analysis (PCA) of metabolite profiles demonstrated a separation of different clusters corresponding to the three different diets, with a similar trend for diets containing cellulose. The Analysis of variance (ANOVA) (one way-ANOVA and Tukey's test) was used to compare compound levels between these three different diets. Significant differences were observed, including higher levels of aromatic derivatives in the wood diet and higher levels of sugar alcohols in the xylan diet. A higher accumulation of uric acid was observed with the artificial diets (cellulose and xylan), likely to be related to the nitrogen deficiency. The present study highlighted the capability of adaptation of the termite system to non-optimal carbon sources and the subsequent modification of the metabolite profile. These results demonstrate the potential interest to investigate metabolite profiling with state-of-the-art separation science tools, in order to extract information that could be integrated with other omics data to provide more insight into the termite-symbiont digestion system.

show abstract

Biology of Invasive Termites: A Worldwide Review

Cited by 252 publications

References 91 publications

Temperate forest termites: ecology, biogeography, and ecosystem impacts

Temperate forest termites: ecology, biogeography, and ecosystem impacts

Population genetic structure of the predatory, social wasp Vespula pensylvanica in its native and invasive range

GC×GC-TOFMS for the Analysis of Metabolites Produced by Termites (Reticulitermes flavipes) Bred on Different Carbon Sources

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About