2009 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) 1) Measure and evaluate the efficacy and cost effectiveness of area-wide approaches in the control of Formosan Subterranean termites in the 108 city block area of the French Quarter of New Orleans in coordination with Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, New Orleans Mosquito and Termite Control Board, and other collaborators. Continue the area-wide integrated management of Formosan subterranean termites in the French Quarter of New Orleans with the following three sub objectives: a) Complete treatment of entire French Quarter. b) Determine the best means to transition to a self-sustaining program. The program should include outreach that addresses a broad base of stakeholders, in addition to the pest control industry. Consideration should be given to building code requirements for new properties. c) Perform the measurements and analyses necessary to determine the entomological and economic effectiveness of the program. Coordinate cooperative research with universities, ARS scientists, and other partners to develop new control and inspection technologies and to improve efficiency of area wide control of Formosan subterranean termites. 2) Coordinate cooperative research with universities, ARS scientists and other partners to develop new control and inspection technologies and to improve efficiency of area wide control of Formosan subterranean termites. a) Establish area-wide management of areas infested with the Formosan subterranean termite in at least two urban and two rural communities outside of New Orleans, leveraging the lessons learned from the French Quarter. Programs should be sustainable and results should be documented entomologically and economically. b) Determine the mechanisms and rates of geographic dispersion of the Formosan subterranean termite, including dispersion from urban structures to forests and from forests to urban areas. c) Analyze the risk to the U.S. of invasive termites, including those already introduced and those that might be introduced in the future. d) Develop and refine acoustical monitoring tools for termite detection. e) Develop guidance for the public communication component of termite integrated pest management by quantitative evaluation of impact from education, communication, urban planning, and building codes. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) The Formosan subterranean termite (FST) poses a unique threat to structures and trees because of large colonies existing in dense populations. Traditional methods of using non-repellent termiticides as a protective barrier failed to prevent damage or reduce population density. As a result FST is spreading and threatens rural and urban communities. An Area-wide management strategy using non-repellent termiticides or bait systems is proposed as an alternative to the traditional protective barrier. These termiticides and bait systems are known to eliminate colonies thus reducing density and the threat of further damage and spread. The New Orleans’ French Quarter Project will continue as a model of an area-wide strategy in a metropolitan area heavily infested with FST. Success of the strategy to reduce the infesting FST population is measured by comparing pre and post treatment alate numbers and monitoring activity of foragers with in-ground stations. Inspections will determine levels of infestations both pre and post treatment in structures and trees. The economic value of an area-wide approach will be determined by a survey developed by an economist for pest management professionals and property owners. Natural dispersion will be studied using a series of light traps appropriately distant from known sources of marked alates. In-ground stations will detect establishment of new colonies and genotyping used to determine relationship between alates from known sources and termite colonies. Natural dispersion will be studied under three conditions:. 1)in rural forested areas where transportation has little impact;. 2)in urban neighborhoods; and. 3)re-invasion of previously infested areas. Transporting infested materials, e.g. railroad cross ties, boats or cargo accounts for establishment of new infestations hundreds of miles from original sources. ARS will work with university experts, regulatory officials and industry representatives to develop regulatory guidelines to limit the spread of FST by these means. The threat of other invasive species of termites especially from the Asian Pacific and Caribbean is very real in today’s global economy. Extensive literature exists on origin, species identity and possible establishment if introduced to the continental U.S. ARS will work with other scientists to increase this knowledge base and inform appropriate officials of potentially threatening species and suspected materials likely to carry infestations. ARS Scientist in the FST Research Unit in cooperation with the National Center for Physical Acoustics will develop technologies appropriate for detection of existing infestations and a warning system that alerts residents of invading termites. ARS will develop guidance and a survey to measure impact of education of the public about termite infestations and the area-wide management strategy. University experts, industry representatives, government officials and other appropriate agencies will participate in this effort. 3.Progress Report The fifth expansion of the French Quarter (FQ) project, adding 12 blocks to the area under area-wide management, is substantially completed. This gives a total of 78 blocks under treatment plus the railroad and levee that borders the French Quarter for its entire length. A strategy adopted at the March 2006 Meeting of the Formosan Subterranean Termite (FST) Technical Committee to further reduce the FST density in the FQ which began in the summer of 2006 continues to have favorable results. The inspection program, which has been essential to this success, continues to the present. 4.Accomplishments 1. Area-Wide Management of (FST). Evaluation of success of the project is done by trapping the alates (winged forms of the FST). The FST alates swarm in metropolitan New Orleans from April to July during the early evening hours. There are several swarming events during the termite swarming season, with the first major swarm involving thousand of alates, in the second or third weeks of May. Additional major swarms may follow approximately every 7 to 10 days until the end of the swarm season in late July. Alates are attracted to street lamps and other sources of light. Sticky cardboard traps suspended below these lamps in the FQ are used effectively to estimate the number of alates in a swarm. The trapping results in 2009 indicate a slight increase in the number of alates trapped throughout the French Quarter. Nevertheless, the current alate capture rate is substantially less than the number trapped before area-wide management began in the French Quarter. The 2009 results emphasize the need for continuance of the inspection and treatment program (preventive) for termites since eradication is not likely. 2. Reduced Termite Activity. The railroad tracks and levee that border Decatur Street and the Mississippi River had been heavily infested with FST. These termites were an imminent threat to adjacent properties and eventually all properties in the French Quarter. A baiting program begun in 2004 on the levee has reduced termite activity there by 98%. Trapping results in 2009 indicate isolated activity associated with a tree infestation. The isolate resurgence of activity in areas where activity has been reduced to near zero again is a warning of the need for a continuance of monitoring and preventive treatment. Area III, which includes the French Market and the old U.S. Mint, has also contained sites of intense termite activity in the in-ground monitoring stations. In 2006, a campaign using a commercial bait system across the grounds of the French Market, adjacent park area, and the Mint was initiated. The results of this campaign, which was spearheaded by the New Orleans Mosquito and Termite Control Board, have eliminated the activity from these areas. Currently, the only active in-ground stations in Area III are located neighborhoods away from the French Market and the Mint. 3. Building Inspections. Researchers began inspecting buildings in 2003 using sophisticated detection technology, such as infrared cameras and motion or sound detection devices. With the aid of computer mapping software, they have identified those areas of the French Quarter that have the most termite activity. Results of the inspection program from 2005-2009 indicate that 6 of 95 (6%) structures in the original 15 blocks inspected for the first time are infested. These six infestations may be recent, since it is not likely they have been infested from the beginning of the program in 1998 without notice by the dwellers or pest management professionals. Inspections also reveal that there are problem structures that remain infested even after repeated treatment. For example, in Area I, 121 structures (32% of the total inspections in Area I) required two or more inspections followed by above ground treatment to remedy the persistent infestation. It is likely that these infestations account for the alates that have been trapped in a consistent pattern for the last 6 years. The common wall construction which is so prevalent of the architecture in the French Quarter contributes to the difficulty of controlling termites in these structures. The most successful treatment for these infestations is to first locate the infestation by inspection and then to remedy the infestation with above-ground treatment, preferably with an above ground baiting system. 4. Foraging Biology/Behavior of (FST). Little is known about the foraging biology of Formosan termites. Knowledge of how FST finds and selects food sources will contribute to development of better strategies for control of this pests. New mathematical models have been developed and applied to estimate the number of individuals and the boundaries of a Formosan termite colony and to demonstrate how FST foraging strategy and tunneling behavior optimizes the rate of encountering food sources. Excavation relies on tactile interactions and individuals who actively orient their movement. Potential termite excavators moved from the tunnel origin towards the distal end of the tunnel and formed a queue behind those termites at the digging face. Delayed termites excavated soil laterally from the tunnel wall at a position governed by their position in the queue of termites. By examining excavation under artificially induced conditions of longer and shorter queues of termites at the tunnel end, it was shown that tunnel width increased with increased queue size and the rate of lateral excavation in a process called "digging pressure." 5. Characterizing (FST) alate swarms. FST colonies have variable breeding systems characterized by varying numbers of reproductive adults and degrees of inbreeding. At any given alate trap, at any given time, there were up to 5 representative colonies which contributed alates to a particular swarm aggregation. For the overall swarm season, a minimum estimate of 41 colonies contributed to the swarms from three locations. It is important to consider that the locations were all located within 120 meters of one another and the number of alates captured was during a 16-day period. These results are indicative of the severity of the infestation, i.e. multiple colonies densely located, in the French Quarter. Work is now in progress to determine whether these alates originated from colonies inhabiting nearby trees and structures as opposed to possible origin outside of the French Quarter. It will also be determined whether alates from the same colony were found in multiple alate traps over time. 6. Spread of (FST). Twenty eight FST colonies were collected from 2004-2008, including 21 colonies from Mississippi, 6 colonies from Louisiana, and one from China. Two genotypes of FST were identified in Mississippi, where the first one, GA type, was identical to those reported previously in Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, and other infested states in U.S.; and the second, AT type, was identified for the first time in southeastern United States. Sequence identity of the AT type of FST with those reported mainly in China provided evidence of at least two introductions of FST to the United States. The termites in Mississippi are potentially transported from the port cities in Mississippi along the Gulf of Mexico because the numerous infestations have been observed along transportation corridors via Interstate 59 in Mississippi and Highway 11, as well as a parallel railway from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Meridian (Lauderdale County), Mississippi. The genetic diversity of FST in Mississippi was expected to be higher than other inland states. However, besides a recently introduced colony from New Orleans, LA, with AT type, twenty colonies collected in south Mississippi had identical genotype, GA type. 7. Origins of (FST). FST is primarily reported from subtropical and warm temperate regions, while the Asian subterranean termite, C. gestroi, is reported from many areas of the tropics. Taiwan is one of a few areas where the distributions of the two species overlap. Southern Florida is another site where the two termites co-exist. Analysis of the genetic material from both types of termites indicates that most Taiwanese FST populations were closely related to Japanese and some Chinese populations, and that Taiwanese (C. gestroi) populations were most closely related to those from the Philippines and Hawaii rather than populations from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. The results suggest Taiwan is the center of origin for FST, but a recent introduction site for C. gestroi. 6.Technology Transfer Number of Web Sites Managed 4 Number of Other Technology Transfer 81