A Study of the Preferences of Reticulitermes flavipes for Various Wood Products Used in Residential Construction.Termites strike over 500,000 homes and cause over 2 billion dollars in damage each year, increasing every year. The purpose of this research was to determine if the termite termite or white ant, common name for a soft-bodied social insect of the order Isoptera. Termites are easily distinguished from ants by comparison of the base of the abdomen, which is broadly joined to the thorax in termites; in ants, there is Reticulitermes flavipes prefer Cedar, Douglas Fir Douglas fir: see pine. Douglas fir Any of about six species of coniferous evergreen timber trees (see conifer) that make up the genus Pseudotsuga, in the pine family, native to western North America and eastern Asia. , Whitewood whitewood, common name for numerous unrelated trees having light-colored wood, e.g., the tulip tree (see magnolia), the linden, and the cottonwood (see willow). , Red Oak, Poplar, and the Aspen commonly used in residential construction. It was hypothesized that the untreated Douglas Fir would be most preferred by Reticulitermes flavipes due to the minimal processing involved, leaving the wood closest to its natural state. Termite workers were placed in habitats with wood samples and allowed to eat the wood, calculating the mass loss at the end of four weeks. The Douglas Fir showed the only mass lost (-3.88 g), while the Whitewood (+1.53 g) and Cedar (+1.64 g) were the next closest. The difference between the Douglas Fir and the other woods was significant after completion of an ANOVA anova see analysis of variance. ANOVA Analysis of variance, see there test and Tukey HSD HSD Human Services Department HSD High Speed Data HSD Hillsboro School District (Hillsboro, OR) HSD Hybrid Synergy Drive (Toyota/Lexus) HSD High School Diploma HSD Historical Society of Delaware Post Hoc Test, yet this data merely showed the difference in the amount of water absorbed. Therefore, it could not be determined if the data supported or did not support the experimental hypothesis. Peter J. Gorski Spring Valley High School |
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