March 14, 1997
LSU researchers making headway against Formosan termites
BATON ROUGE -- Discoveries by a team of LSU researchers could lead to control of the destructive Formosan termite.
The researchers, associate professor Gregg Henderson with the Agricultural Center, biochemistry professor Roger Laine and postdoctoral researcher Jian Chen, also with the Ag Center, have identified certain chemical traces that are essential to the insects' well-being. By manipulating these chemicals, the group hopes to halt or slow the termite's steady advance.
Termites use chemicals for many things, said Henderson. "We have found some chemicals that increase the amount termites eat, others which they use to control the fungus in their nests, and others which they use to find food.
"When termites go back to the nest after finding food, they dab their abdomens to the ground, making a chemical trail for others to follow."
The Formosan termite is the most destructive termite in the world, said Henderson, and the only one in the United States that readily and voraciously eats living trees. He estimates that 30 percent of all the homes in New Orleans were or are currently infested with them, and the termites are spreading northward.
With their new knowledge of the biochemistry of termites, the scientists will begin by making improved baits. They hope to make baits using a volatile substance that will radiate the chemical attractant, luring termites to the bait. Another chemical will stimulate their feeding on the bait, which will be laced with a slow-acting toxin. The toxin will permit termites to bring poisoned food back to the nest for the queen and other workers to eat, said Henderson.
"Baits are a new technology in termite control. The old technology was a chemical barrier, but there are more Formosan termites now, and they're putting pressure on these barriers," he said.
Baits also have the advantage of needing a smaller quantity of chemicals and of potentially destroying the colony rather than just keeping it away from wooden structures, said Henderson.
There are other strategies under consideration. One is disrupting the termites' synthesis of the chemicals they use, particularly the chemical they use to keep the fungus that grows in their colonies under control. The fungus is lethal to termites, and under laboratory conditions it kills them, but in the field it does not.
The Formosans are a huge problem in China, said Chen, who estimated that 50 percent of the houses in the Formosan termite range are infested. If the insect spreads in the United States to the same latitude it has in China, it will go as far as North Carolina, he said.
A mature colony can have as many as 70 million foragers, and even in China, where they originated, the Formosans have no natural enemies that appear to keep them in check, said Henderson. Colonies can live 50 years or more and can have as many as 15 queens at once.
Laine said he expected at least two patents to come out of the team's research.
The research was funded by a $100,000 Louisiana Educational Quality Support Fund grant.
A representative from Congressman Bob Livingston's offices said Livingston is looking into money for more research on the Formosan, but no details were available.
# # #
Contact Ron Brown LSU News Service 504 388-3867; [email protected]
RSS