Grids of commercially available monitoring stations were set out in a rectangular grid on 3 m centers at 7 sites in urbanized areas from Corpus Christi, Texas, north to Stillwater, Oklahoma. Plot areas ranged from 325-1560 m 2. Stations were checked regularly for a minimum of 1 year. The number of colonies at each site was determined by ingested dye markers, morphological characters and cuticular hydrocarbon analysis.
Number of colonies ranged from 0.12 to 0.64 per 100 m2 (11.96 - 64.07 per ha). Colony density was positively related to tree cover and other accessible sources of wood. Termite foraging areas tended to be stable throughout the study. There were also large areas in all plots with no detectable termite foraging for the duration of the study. The typical pattern observed was numerous colonies with small foraging areas. Typically, most colonies were detected inside stations within 6 months and the only cases of "new" colonies appearing were on the margins of the grid. Following elimination of individual colonies by bait toxicants, re-invasion of vacated territories was only observed in cases where the foraging territory of an untreated colonies was immediately adjacent.
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA