Interspecific Competition and Territory Defense Mechanisms of<i>Coptotermes formosanus</i>and<i>Coptotermes gestroi</i>(Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Li, Hou-Feng; Yang, Rou-Ling; Su, Nan‐Yao

doi:10.1603/en09262

“…Perhaps the lack of deposition resulted from a response to specific spacing similar to the "bee space," wherein honeybees do not deposit wax or propolis when presented with a limited distance between hive components (Langstroth 1853). If generally true, making use of "termite space" ensures that direct visual monitoring of termite survival, and detailed behaviors of the insects (Whitman & Forschler 2007;Chouvenc et al 2008;Bardunias & Su 2009;Li & Su 2009;Li et al 2010) can be conducted at all times without the need to disturb the arena in the manner that was needed for Petri dishes. For microscopic photography, the limited depth of field is always problematic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bioassays using Petri dishes can only provide information about direct toxicity, usually in a non-choice situation, while in the natural environment termite colonies can spread underground up to 100 m (King & Spink 1969). Individual arenas can provide longer distance of tunneling than jars or Petri dishes, depending on their size (Su & Puche 2003;Chouvenc et al 2008;Bardunias and Su 2009;Li et al 2010), and if connected with each other with transparent tubing, it is possible to simulate termite tunnels of 50 m for large groups of termites (Su 2005b) and even longer distances (e.g., 135 m, Su, unpublished), still with the possibility to observe all individuals in the arenas at all times.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change in Tunnel Heading in the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in Response to Movement Through Opened Space

Bardunias

¹

,

Su

²

2010

Annals of the Entomological Society of America

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Subterranean termites excavate tunnel patterns that radiate outward from a point of origin along vectors generated by path integration. Upon encountering open space, the tunnel heads away from the new site. In this study we forced termite excavators to travel from an introduction chamber through a tube with a 90° bend before entering a sand-filled arena, an opened chamber with perpendicular openings that forced a 90° turn before access to the arena, or an open chamber with an odor trail left by previous termites traveling through the opened chamber connecting the perpendicular openings. When forced to move through an opened chamber with no odor trail, the termites tunnelled away from the second chamber, not the introduction chamber. In contrast, when a path is either constrained inside a tube or demarcated by odor trail the path was more likely to head away from the first chamber, suggesting that they are not responding to a cue derived from an intrinsic value of open space. The discontinuation of their perceived path as they traveled through the open space seems to have caused an updating of the path integrator. The location of the deposition of excavated sand from the arena within the tube and chamber system varied, with sand found only in the second chamber when the path was broken. The cues that cause an updating of the path integrator also may stimulate sand deposition.

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“…Perhaps the lack of deposition resulted from a response to specific spacing similar to the "bee space," wherein honeybees do not deposit wax or propolis when presented with a limited distance between hive components (Langstroth 1853). If generally true, making use of "termite space" ensures that direct visual monitoring of termite survival, and detailed behaviors of the insects (Whitman & Forschler 2007;Chouvenc et al 2008;Bardunias & Su 2009;Li & Su 2009;Li et al 2010) can be conducted at all times without the need to disturb the arena in the manner that was needed for Petri dishes. For microscopic photography, the limited depth of field is always problematic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bioassays using Petri dishes can only provide information about direct toxicity, usually in a non-choice situation, while in the natural environment termite colonies can spread underground up to 100 m (King & Spink 1969). Individual arenas can provide longer distance of tunneling than jars or Petri dishes, depending on their size (Su & Puche 2003;Chouvenc et al 2008;Bardunias and Su 2009;Li et al 2010), and if connected with each other with transparent tubing, it is possible to simulate termite tunnels of 50 m for large groups of termites (Su 2005b) and even longer distances (e.g., 135 m, Su, unpublished), still with the possibility to observe all individuals in the arenas at all times.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chouvenc et al (2008) used large arenas (50 cm × 50 cm) with Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) to show that the survivorship of termites in groups of 960 individuals placed in soil and allowed to forage was not affected by the presence of a fungal pathogen, while small groups of termites kept in Petri dishes were susceptible to the fungus. Finally, Messenger & Su (2005) and Li et al (2010) described the agonistic behavior in Coptotermes using planar arenas; and Li et al (2010) compared the data obtained from Petri dish assays to data obtained from planar arenas filled with sand. The arena assay revealed important features of the agonistic behavior that were not previously observable from the Petri dish experiment alone.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dead Reckoning in Tunnel Propagation of the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera:Rhinotermitidae)

Bardunias

¹

,

Su

²

2009

Annals of the Entomological Society of America

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Subterranean termites excavate extensive tunnel complexes in search of resources. The high energetic cost of digging through soil places stringent requirements on the efficiency of tunnel patterns for both search and transport at the time of their initial construction. An efficient spread of tunnels could result from simple diffusion away from a shared origin, but the ability to actively orient the burgeoning tunnels allows for the construction of efficient patterns when faced with the possibility of detours or directional drift. In this study, termite excavators were made to dig through one or two 90° forced turns of varying length that displaced them laterally and changed their heading. When allowed to tunnel freely again, they invariably corrected for the displacement by moving along a vector away from a point of tunnel origination, termed the global away vector (GAV), that was the opposite of a homing vector. Through the elimination of reliable allothetic cues, idiothetic dead reckoning was shown to be sufficient to orient tunnel headings. Excavation in termites was not coordinated solely by stigmergy, because tunnelers did not rely on local cues alone while digging, but the removal of soil from sites at the tunnel tip was governed by their ability to generate a GAV through dead reckoning.

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Social buffering in a eusocial invertebrate: termite soldiers reduce the lethal impact of competitor cues on workers

Lan

¹

,

Preisser

²

,

Haynes

³

et al. 2017

Ecology

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While the impact of predator-induced stress on prey has received considerable attention, there has been far less research into the effect of competitors. Cues from aggressive competitors should be particularly likely to evoke behavioral and/or physiological responses, since they may be indicative of both direct (interference) and indirect (exploitative) threats. The danger posed by such competitors, and the "fear" they evoke, should be reduced at lower competitor densities and by the presence of individual conspecifics specialized for defense. We assessed how Reticulitermes flavipes termite workers and soldiers were affected by cues from conspecific nestmates, conspecific non-nestmates, and the heterospecific competitor R. virginicus. Competitor cues altered flavipes worker and soldier behavior, decreasing worker growth and increasing their mortality. The presence of flavipes soldiers largely ameliorated these negative impacts: adding even a single soldier (5% of flavipes individuals) decreased worker mortality by 50-80%. Although worker mortality increased with competitor density, increased soldier densities did not increase the benefit to workers. The small number of soldiers required to substantially alter cue-mediated interactions suggests that this caste, in addition to providing direct defense, also occupies a "keystone role" by providing homeostatic feedback to workers functioning in stressful environments.

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Interspecific Competition and Territory Defense Mechanisms ofCoptotermes formosanusandCoptotermes gestroi(Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)

Cited by 41 publications

References 28 publications

Change in Tunnel Heading in the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in Response to Movement Through Opened Space

Change in Tunnel Heading in the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) in Response to Movement Through Opened Space

Dead Reckoning in Tunnel Propagation of the Formosan Subterranean Termite (Isoptera:Rhinotermitidae)

Social buffering in a eusocial invertebrate: termite soldiers reduce the lethal impact of competitor cues on workers

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