برآورد تراكم كلني سطح جستجو و تعيين گونه غالب موريانه هاي زيرزميني با استفاده از سيستم طعمه گذاري در منطقه قم

Appraising of colony density, foraging area and determination of the predominant species of subterranean termites using baiting system in Qum region

Components such as population size, foraging behavior and spatial relationships are important in studying the termite populations. In order to estimate the colony density of subterranean termites in Dasht-e Ahmad (near Qum), two pistachio orchards (each of them 3.5 hectare) were selected and 700 traps installed. The traps were arranged in 7 columns and 50 rows. Each traps included a polica tube (40 cm length and 15 cm width) containing 6 pieces of wood (Length 25 cm, width 6 cm). The 350 traps (Orchard NO.2) surveyed monthly and the results recorded in related forms. In order to estimate the number of colony, the trend of termites attack to traps was used as a criterion. The first attack to traps was regarded as colony locus and marked using black color. The second, third, forth and fifth were marked by blue, green, red and yellow colors. These observations indicated that there are continuous attacks, particularly from the loci, alongside the rows. According to the trend of attacks to traps, 60 complete colonies were estimated. As a result, there was a 583 m2 foraging area for each colony. Investigations also indicated that 3 termite species, Anacanthotermes vagans (Hagen), Microcerotermes ?gabriehs Weidner and Amitermes vilis (Hagen) are distributed in this region. In order to identify the prodominant species, percentages of attacks were compared. Therefore, Microcerotermes ?gabrielis with 66.60 % identified as predominant species.