Sand Moisture Preference, Disturbance Effects And Intra- And Interspecific Aggression In Microcerotermes Crassus Snyder (Blattodea: Termitidae)
| dc.contributor.author | Nellie Wong, Su Chee | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2018-08-02T07:23:35Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2018-08-02T07:23:35Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2010 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This thesis focuses on the ecological and behavioural aspects of Microcerotermes crassus Snyder. Different substrates were tested to ensure the highest survival of these termites under laboratory conditions and sand proved to be very suitable. In sand, survival of termites was high and tunnelling activities can be observed clearly. Wood consumption for the termites was relatively the same for all substrates. The effects of different moisture levels (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) of a sand substrate on the behaviour of M. crassus were evaluated and compared to C. gestroi in a laboratory assay. Moisture content of sand affected wood consumption and influenced the distribution of M. crassus across a moisture gradient. Changing the moisture parameters also affected the location preference of C. gestroi but the effect on wood consumption was not significant. Nonetheless, M. crassus and C. gestroi showed a similar distribution pattern of association with particular moisture levels. Comparative studies showed that M. crassus was less aggressive as less tunnelling activity was recorded. Tunnels built by C. gestroi were highly branched and wide, whereas M. crassus built tunnels that were more narrow and less branched. When termite colonies from the same or different species interact, wide range of agonistic behaviours can occur. Remarkably, no aggressive behaviours were displayed by M. crassus when placed in different colonies of the same species and no or low mortality was recorded. In contrast, various aggressive behaviours were displayed in the interspecific study, resulting in a high mortality rate in most of the encounters. Encounters between M. crassus with termites of the same or different species and with other insects such as ants may also result in fighting and subsequently carcasses may be left at feeding sites. Moreover, M. crassus may encounter other invertebrate carcasses such as millipedes and wood lice that can be found within their nests, at feeding sites around buildings, etc. Ten factors were evaluated on the behaviour of M. crassus. The distribution of M. crassus was recorded between treated and untreated areas on day 1 and day 6 post-treatment. Observations show that disturbances or the presence of carcasses only deterred the termites temporarily. However, prolonged treatment particularly with crushed C. gestroi showed that termites avoided the treated area even at 6 days post-treatment. Survival was also lowest in dishes treated with crushed C. gestroi. Termites consumed less wood in the dishes containing or treated with crushed conspecifics (workers or soldiers of nestmates and non-nestmates), or with crushed C. gestroi. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/6140 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Universiti Sains Malaysia | en_US |
| dc.subject | Sand Moisture Preference, Disturbance Effects | en_US |
| dc.subject | Intra- And Interspecific Aggression In Microcerotermes Crassus Snyder | en_US |
| dc.title | Sand Moisture Preference, Disturbance Effects And Intra- And Interspecific Aggression In Microcerotermes Crassus Snyder (Blattodea: Termitidae) | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |