Termite trouble.In Texas, a recent investigation of coastal trees felled by Hurricane Rita Hurricane Rita was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone ever observed in the Gulf of Mexico. Rita caused $11.3 billion in damage on the U.S. Gulf Coast in September 2005. suggests that upwards of 40 percent of large trees marked for landfills were infested in·fest tr.v. in·fest·ed, in·fest·ing, in·fests 1. To inhabit or overrun in numbers or quantities large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious: with Formosan subterranean termite The Formosan subterranean termite (Coptotermes formosanus) is an invasive species of termite. It has been transported worldwide from its native range in southern China to Formosa (Taiwan, where it gets its name) and Japan. . These particular termites, accidentally introduced to the U.S. from Asia sometime after World War II, are found in the southern Gulf Coast states, southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, , and Hawaii, where it is the state's premier pest. The termites have become a serious threat both to structures and living trees. In New Orleans, the termites infest in·fest v. 1. To live as a parasite in or on tissues or organs or on the skin and its appendages. 2. To inhabit or overrun in numbers large enough to be harmful, threatening, or obnoxious. an estimated 20 to 25 percent of the city's trees; annual control estimates exceed $100 million. Often it takes a natural disaster--like a hurricane or tornado--to allow officials to understand the amount of internal damage the Formosan termites have inflicted on trees, consuming large amounts of their heartwood heartwood, the central, woody core of a tree, no longer serving for the conduction of water and dissolved minerals; heartwood is usually denser and darker in color than the outer sapwood. and weakening their structural integrity. Federal programs such as Operation Full Stop in New Orleans are attempting to develop area-wide management programs for the termites, but legal and legislative measures are needed. Texas, for example, does not have a quarantine policy. There are no remediation or containment policies for the removal and disposal of trees infested with Formosan subterranean termites. Without that, landfills and recycling and distribution centers could unwittingly speed the pest's spread. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] State and local officials need to develop strategies now to assess their urban and native forests for the termites and those states already infested need to consider increasing the amount of money they spend for policy and research. More information is available on the Formosan subterranean termite by visiting the following websites: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/fullstop or www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/fullstop and through Texas A & M University: http://termites.tamu.edu/formosan.html--James W. Austin and Grady J. Glenn, Texas A & M University department of entomology entomology, study of insects, an arthropod class that comprises about 900,000 known species, representing about three fourths of all the classified animal species. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion