Nationwide Termite Pest Survey Conducted in Taiwan as a Citizen Science Project.

Information regarding the species composition and dispersal flight season of termites is crucial for termite management. The major obstacles to collecting such information are a lack of access to private buildings and shortage of workers to monitor and report on termite swarming. To overcome these difficulties, we launched a citizen science project in which members of the public and pest management professionals were invited to collect termite samples. We created the website, Taiwan Termite Identification Service, on which populace could log the collection information, and ship termite samples to our laboratory for identification. We also established a Facebook group, called the "Termite Forum," to publicize this project. A total of 3024 samples were collected from 2015 to 2020, and we identified the species of >93% of the samples. Based on 1499 samples collected from buildings, five structural termite pests were identified, and species composition in each county of Taiwan is available. According to 844 dispersal flight events, termite dispersal flight timing peak and degree of centralization were estimated using a Gaussian model. The collected data demonstrated that the invasive termite species, Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann) (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae), continued northward expansion. The first intercepted alate of Schedorhinotermes sp. (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae) indicated that it may be a new invasive pest from Southeast Asia. This study reports on a successful case of a citizen science project where urban pest data were collected on a national scale.

Functional Plasticity of Foraging Shelter Tubes Built by Termites.

Social insects' constructions are diverse and functionally flexible. We aimed to understand how termites modify their behavior and building material to change the function of a shelter tube. Construction behaviors of three termite species, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae), Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki) (Blattodea: Termitidae), and Nasutitermes takasagoensis (Nawa) (Blattodea: Termitidae), were recorded and analyzed. We measured the thickness and organic matter content of shelter tubes, and further tested their water loss and water drop resistance. All three termite species used a cement-brick construction procedure. The shelter tubes of C. formosanus and N. takasagoensis incorporating of woody material and feces present a strong resistance to water drops. Shelter tubes of the fungus-growing termite, O. formosanus, constructed using only soil and fluid secretion had a weak resistance to water drops. The trade-off between using feces to increase hydrophobicity of shelter tubes and using feces to grow fungus likely occurs in fungus-growing termites. Among intraspecific colonies, increasing the thickness of shelter tube improved resistance to water loss and water drops. This study demonstrated termites employed limited construction material and building behaviors to achieve functional plasticity of foraging shelter.