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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
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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

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