New CH 4 emission data from a number of Northern and Southern Hemispheric, tropical and temperate termites, are reported, which indicate that the annual global CH 4 source due to termites is probably less than 15 Tg. The major uncertainties in this estimate are identified and found to be substantial. Nevertheless, our results suggest that termites probably account for less than 5% of global CH 4 emissions.

No abstract

Coptotermes acinaciformis (Frogg.) was collected from three different mound colonies and placed in holding jars in a matrix of mound material from an alien colony. After transportation and maintenance in a controlled insectary for 28 days, they were separated from the holding jars and pooled according to colony origin. They were then used in mixed groups of various combinations in a bioassay test of their feeding capacity and survival. Termites from a fourth colony were used to determine whether pooling of individuals originating from the same colony but maintained in different holding jars had any effect on their feeding and survival in the laboratory. It was shown that, although termites from the same original colony can be re-united without detriment after transportation and maintenance, those from different colonies cannot be mixed to form reproducible bioassay groups. Although chilling before mixing produced a slight improvement, the resulting groups were still unsuitable for use in bioassays. It is noteworthy that when brought together after maintenance in the holding jars under identical conditions in an identical matrix, the termites were able to recognise and accept fellows from their own colony and to detect and reject those from other sources.

No abstract

Alkaline copper quat (ACQ) is an established wood preservative that is formulated with solubilized copper in amine solvent. This article describes three separate trials in Australia that investigated whether substituting soluble copper with micronized copper affects performance. ACQ and micronized copper quat (MCQ) performed similarly in Pinus radiata against four brown-rot fungi in a soil-block bioassay, while MCQ performed slightly better against two white-rot fungi in Eucalyptus delegatensis. A 2.3-year in-ground stake trial in the wet tropics at Innisfail also found that ACQ and MCQ performed comparably in P. radiata and Corymbia maculata. This was a severe test site with attack caused by soft-rot fungi, white-rot fungi, and termites. An H3 (outside, aboveground) field test against termites in Darwin showed that ACQ- or MCQ-treated P. radiata and C. maculata performed similarly against Coptotermes acinaciformis and Mastotermes darwiniensis. These trials demonstrated that MCQ performs comparably to ACQ under the test conditions used.