03/11/2003

AU Researcher on a Mission to Outfox Exotic Termite

AUBURN, Ala. — Any termite can be cause for concern, but an alarmingly aggressive, incredibly destructive and extremely difficult-to-control exotic termite that’s chomping its way across Alabama is the one that’s weighing most heavily on the mind of Auburn University entomologist Xing Ping Hu.

It is the ferocious Formosan subterranean termite, an insidious insect that stole its way from east Asia into the U.S. following World War II and that is without question the most dreaded of the 2,400-plus known termite species in the world. For Hu, finding a way to control this alien villain is a near-obsession.

“I am passionate about this,” said Hu, an Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station researcher. “Most people have no idea yet how absolutely devastating the Formosan termite is. My goal with my research is, not to have some paper published or get a patent, but to help society get this pest under control.”

That native termites pale in comparison to the pervasive Formosans is evidenced by the sheer numbers. While an average colony of native termites contains hundreds of thousands of insects that can eat their way through an estimated seven pounds of wood per year, a single Formosan termite colony has a population of 10 million-plus and easily devours more than 1,000 pounds of wood annually.

Diet constitutes the major difference between the native and the foreign termite species, Hu said. Native termites feed primarily on dead trees and processed wood, but Formosans, with their atrocious appetites, eat anything that contains wood fiber — not just buildings and decks and privacy fences but live trees, shrubs and crops. In the past two years, Hu has confirmed Formosan termites’ destructive presence in more than two dozen shrubs and at least 16 vegetable plants, including tomatoes, that are common in Alabama.

In homes and buildings, the Formosans know no bounds. From crawl spaces to rafters, they attack en masse. They can penetrate plaster, plastic and asphalt to get to a food source; they’ve even been found devouring the untreated centers of pressure-treated landscape timbers and telephone poles.

The key to controlling the Formosan termite, Hu contends, is a thorough understanding of the pest’s behavior and biology.

One aspect of her research, for instance, is focusing on Formosan termites’ violent nature and how that might be used against them as a means of control. Hu has found that, when equal numbers of native termites and Formosan termites are placed head-to-head in a controlled environment, the Formosans attack with a vengeance, not stopping until they have annihilated the natives. Based on that discovery, Hu is now investigating the possibility that Formosans produce a chemical or hormone that causes their aggressiveness.

“If that is the case, perhaps that compound eventually could be manufactured and used in Formosan colonies to make them attack and kill each other,” Hu said.

To date, Formosan termites are known to infest only 10 Southern states and Hawaii, but their kingdom will grow, Hu predicted. A 12-month study she just completed indicates Formosans can survive temperatures significantly lower than had been previously estimated.

“They have the potential to prevail in areas that people have expected would be uninhabitable for them,” she said. “There is no way we will ever eradicate this termite. Control is our only option.”

Control has proved difficult, however, especially since 1988, when the most effective termite-controlling chemical was banned from the market due to health and environmental concerns. In Formosan-infested Lee County, Hu currently is conducting long-term field evaluation trials for various control products and has found that both non-repellant termiticides and the relatively new termite monitoring/baiting systems available commercially can be effective — the termiticides in the short term and the bait systems over the long haul. She also is working with University of Florida entomologists to evaluate new products that would reduce Formosan termite populations by disrupting the insect’s biological cycle.

Hu’s fervent crusade against the Formosan termite is evident in her comprehensive research strategy. In addition to her investigations into Formosan termite behavior and effective chemical control techniques, she currently is in the process of developing a low-toxic, termite-repelling wood preservative, and she also is studying the effectiveness of using termite-sniffing dogs as a means of early detection. Later this year, she will launch an in-depth study to determine whether Formosan termites possess some type of natural resistance to naturally occurring pathogens in the environment, and, if so, how to weaken that immunity.

The Formosan termite, native to east Asia and the Pacific Islands, entered the U.S. on military ships and supplies returning from the Pacific to Louisiana, Texas and South Carolina ports after World War II. With no natural enemies to keep it in check, the termite subversively began expanding its territory, but it wasn’t until 1965 that the first colony was confirmed U.S., in Louisiana. The first reported Formosan infestation in Alabama was in Mobile in1985. Today, Formosans have been confirmed in six Alabama counties, but they likely are even more widespread in the state, Hu said. In the U.S., Formosan termites inflict damages estimated at more than $1 billion a year.

“By the time you see them, it’s usually too late,” Hu said. “The damage will be severe.”

The most obvious indication of a termite infestation in a home or other building, Hu said, is swarming. While native subterranean termites typically swarm on sunny days, around mid-day, in the early spring, Formosans swarm in the late spring and early summer, and almost always in the early evening.

The Formosan termite “is a big deal,” Hu said — such a big deal that the U.S. Agricultural Research Service two years ago launched Operation Full Stop, a campaign to reduce the Formosan termite’s numbers and colonies. Ground zero for Full Stop is New Orleans, and rightly so. “The whole French Quarter is collapsing because of these things,” said Hu, who was involved in Full Stop while on the faculty at Louisiana State University in the late 1990s.

All Southern states are participating in Operation Full Stop—all, that is, except Alabama.

“To be part of the project, state legislatures must provide at least some matching funding for termite research,” Hu said. “Alabama is the only Southern state where the Legislature does not include any funding whatsoever to support termite research.”

Unfortunately, that may not happen until the Formosan termite has invaded every county and caused massive destruction.

“There are two types of houses,” Hu said. “Houses that have termites, and houses that are about to have termites. This affects every single one of us.”

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News from:

Office of Ag Communications & Marketing

Auburn University College of Agriculture
Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station
3 Comer Hall, Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
334-844-4877 (PHONE) 334-844-5892 (FAX)

Contact Jamie Creamer, 334-844-2783 or jcreamer@auburn.edu
Contact Xing Ping Hu, 334-844-6392 or huxingp@auburn.edu

03/11/03

For immediate release