Author:
Evans Theodore A.,Gleeson Patrick V.
Abstract
Daily and seasonal changes in foraging activity of subterranean wood-feeding
termites are not well known, but their subterranean habit is widely assumed to
reduce the effect of the weather on their behaviour. The number of foraging
Coptotermes lacteus in artificial feeding stations was
examined over 24-h periods during summer and winter in temperate Australia. In
summer, termites foraged disparately, with greater numbers found distant from
the mounds, whereas in winter termites were clustered in very high numbers
near the mounds. Daily patterns were seen in forager numbers: during summer,
peaks occurred in late morning and late afternoon and troughs at dawn and
noon, whereas in winter a peak occurred at noon and a trough at dawn. These
patterns were associated with air and soil temperatures, which indicated that
daily and seasonal weather patterns do influence subterranean wood-feeding
termites. The foraging pattern is discussed with respect to predator behaviour
and how the pattern might be used to infer positioning of cryptic nesting
termite species.
Subject
Animal Science and Zoology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Cited by
41 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献