High Tech Formosan Termite Detection

Having access to highly sensitive instruments that can pinpoint exactly where the termites are hiding is an important aspect of the offensive strategy. Jack Leonard of the New Orleans Mosquito and Termite Control Board (NOMTCB) has been using one such instrument in the field for several years. It's a thermal imager that can detect termites behind walls and in other hard-to-reach places. The late Bob Melia, who owned Real Time Thermal Imaging, helped develop the application. He died in 2001, but his family has continued running his business. Leonard uses the technology to evaluate different termite control projects sponsored by Operation Full Stop. Most recently, he checked schools in the Orleans Parish where control treatments took place.

"The thermal imager is a handheld device about the size of an 8-mm camcorder," explains Leonard. "It takes practice and experience in the field to read the black-and-white images, but we've had good success in detecting infestations. We hope to train more people to use it."

SRRC entomologist Weste Osbrink and Richard Mankin, an entomologist at ARS' Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, Florida, have been focusing on a different type of technology to uncover termite infestations—acoustics. Osbrink is a termite expert, and Mankin is an expert at detecting insects by their sounds.

"We worked together to create a device that detects termites through the sounds they make as they're feeding on wood," says Osbrink. Although such devices are not yet in widespread use, they have great potential to help scientists and pest control operators manage the termite problem.

Additional research is being conducted by cooperators at the National Center for Physical Acoustics in Oxford, Mississippi, to develop technology and systems to detect termites or their structural damage.

Researchers involved in Operation Full Stop's Armstrong Park project have helped prove how important areawide management and constant vigilance are. Nan-Yao Su, an entomology professor at the University of Florida, and Matt Messenger, an entomologist with NOMTCB, lead the project.

New Orleans' Louis Armstrong Park covers about 31 acres and sits next to the north side of the French Quarter. Su and Messenger, with their cooperators, have been studying the foraging behavior of the park's 4 to 6 native subterranean termite colonies and 14 to 18 Formosan subterranean termite colonies. In one study, they determined how quickly other termites would reinvade an area after a single colony had been eliminated. Their work showed that if untreated, both Formosan and native colonies will begin to occupy vacated territory within days. Complete reoccupation by Formosan colonies may take as little as 6 months.

The scientists have just begun a new project. Su explains, "We're trying to eliminate all the termites in Armstrong Park so that we can see where new colonies will take hold. This will help us better understand the ecological succession of termite infestations. It will also help us focus on where future problems may occur in an areawide management approach."