Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - 2:55 PM
1019

Tunnel excavation, colony growth, and population dynamics of subterranean termites: Empirical data and simulation results

Nan-Yao Su, nysu@ufl.edu, Sang-Hee Lee, sunchaos@ufl.edu, and Paul Bardunias, Paulmb@ufl.edu. University of Florida, Department of Entomology & Nematology, Ft. Lauderdale Research & Education Center, 3205 College Avenue, Davie, FL

Individual termites follow a simple rule for tunnel excavation, but the emergent outcome of tunnel structure produced by a group of termites exceeds the collective sum of the individual efforts. Foraging gallery of a colony is made up of numerous emergent outcomes of groups of termites, but its growth is dictated by the environmental restrictions and inter- and intra-specific competitions. Simulation results based on empirical data at individual, group, and colony level will be presented, and their use for predicting the population recovery following an area-wide population management program will be discussed.


Species 1: Isoptera Rhinotermitidae Coptotermes formosanus (Formosan subterranean termite)
Species 2: Isoptera Rhinotermitidae Reticulitermes flavipes (eastern subterranean termite)