The widespread use of synthetic pesticides has resulted in a number of issues, including a rise in insecticide-resistant organisms, environmental degradation, and a hazard to human health. As a result, new microbial derived insecticides that are safe for human health and the environment are urgently needed. In this study, rhamnolipid biosurfactants produced from Enterobacter cloacae SJ2 was used to evaluate the toxicity towards mosquito larvae (Culex quinquefasciatus) and termites (Odontotermes obesus). Results showed dose dependent mortality rate was observed between the treatments. The 48 h LC50 (median lethal concentration) values of the biosurfactant were determined for termite and mosquito larvae following the non-linear regression curve fit method. Results showed larvicidal activity and anti-termite activity of biosurfactants with 48 h LC50 value (95% confidence interval) of 26.49 mg/L (25.40 to 27.57) and 33.43 mg/L (31.09 to 35.68), respectively. According to a histopathological investigation, the biosurfactant treatment caused substantial tissue damage in cellular organelles of larvae and termites. The findings of this study suggest that the microbial biosurfactant produced by E. cloacae SJ2 is an excellent and potentially effective agent for controlling Cx. quinquefasciatus and O. obesus.
This article presents experimental data on oil palm biomass (oil palm leaves, oil palm trunk and empty fruit bunch) handsheet production characterization by biodelignification treatment using Bacillus cereus extracted from termite gut (Coptotermus curvignathus). It associates the lignocellulose chemical composition obtained via technical association pulp and paper industry TAPPI T 222 om-02 testing on lignin content reduction determination, holocellulose and hemicellulose content determination (Kurscher-Hoffner method). Several data obtained for handsheet characterization presents brightness, opacity, contrast ratio, din transparency, thickness, bursting and tearing indexes are collected. Handsheet surface morphology was also observed on ratio of gaps differences between fiber bonding conducted using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and ImageJ software. The raw data findings supplement chemical composition analysis for both untreated and treated substrates on handsheet quality performance check as presented in the research article "Bio-Mechanical Pulping of Bacteria Pre-Treatment on Oil Palm Biomass for Handsheet Production" [1]. For understanding correlations into the difference among lignocellulose content composition which affect the handsheet formation and mechanical strength refer to article from this research [1]. This dataset is made publicly available for optimizing alternative waste material reuse in the pulp and paper industrial section.
The success of microbial termiticides in controlling termites depends on the ability of microbes to grow in different media and the functionality of the microbes as a resistant barrier or toxic bait. This study was conducted to understand the mortality rate and behaviour changes of the subterranean termite Coptotermes curvignathus Holmgren introduced with different concentrations of Serratia marcescens strain LGMS 1 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain LGMS 3 using wood and soil as bacterial transfer medium. In general, higher concentration of bacteria in soil caused a reduction in tunnelling activity and wood consumption and an increase in mortality. However, application on wood revealed a different outcome. Wood treated with S. marcescens of 106 CFU ml-1 concentration proved to be more efficient as bait than higher concentration applications as it caused a high mortality rate while still highly palatable for termites. Wood or soil treated with S. marcescens concentration higher than 109 CFU ml-1 creates a high toxicity and repellent barrier for termites. Pseudomonas aeruginosa of 109 CFU ml-1 concentrations applied on wood served as a slow-acting toxic bait. However, the ability for S. marcescens and P. aeruginosa to survive on wood is low, which made the bait unable to retain a useful level of toxicity for a long period of time and frequent reapplication is needed.
Metarhizium anisopliae (Metchnikoff) Sorokin, a pathogenic fungus to insects, infects the subterranean termite, Coptotermes curvignathus Holmgren, a devastating pest of plantation trees in the tropics. Electron microscopy and proteomics were used to investigate the infection and developmental process of M. anisopliae in C. curvignathus. Fungal infection was initiated by germ tube penetration through the host's cuticle as observed at 6 h post-inoculation (PI), after which it elongated into the host's integumental tissue. The colonization process continued as seen from dissemination of blastospores in the hemocoel at 96 h PI. At this time point, the emergent mycelia had mummified the host and forty-eight hours later, new conidia were dispersed on the termites' body surface. Meanwhile, hyphal bodies were observed in abundance in the intercellular space in the host's body. The proteomes of the pathogen and host were isolated separately using inoculated termite samples withdrawn at each PI-time point and analyzed in two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) gels. Proteins expressed in termites showed evidence of being related to cell regulation and the immune response, while those expressed in M. anisopliae, to transportation and fungal virulence. This study provides new information on the interaction between termites and its entomopathogen, with potential utilization for developing future biopesticide to control the termite population.
The use of chemical insecticides has had many adverse effects. This study reports a novel perspective on the application of insect-based compounds to repel and eradicate other insects in a controlled environment. In this work, defense fluid was shown to be a repellent and insecticide against termites and cockroaches and was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Globitermes sulphureus extract at 20 mg/ml showed the highest repellency for seven days against Macrotermes gilvus and for thirty days against Periplaneta americana. In terms of toxicity, G. sulphureus extract had a low LC50 compared to M. carbonarius extract against M. gilvus. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of the M. carbonarius extract indicated the presence of six insecticidal and two repellent compounds in the extract, whereas the G. sulphureus extract contained five insecticidal and three repellent compounds. The most obvious finding was that G. sulphureus defense fluid had higher potential as a natural repellent and termiticide than the M. carbonarius extract. Both defense fluids can play a role as alternatives in the search for new, sustainable, natural repellents and termiticides. Our results demonstrate the potential use of termite defense fluid for pest management, providing repellent and insecticidal activities comparable to those of other green repellent and termiticidal commercial products.
Termites encompass a various range of destruction of crops and capable of decomposing woods. The widely being used of hazardous chemical pesticides has develop many health problems to the users. Hence, the aim of this study was to substitute the use of hazardous chemical pesticides to herbs based pesticides as repellent agent against rubber termites (Coptotermes curvignathus), which is safer and easier to use. The selected herbs species for this study are lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus), garlic (Allium sativum) and wild mint (Mentha arvensis). As for C.curvignathus, they were obtained from Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Kepong, Selangor, Malaysia. Khaya wood (Khaya senegalensis) (3cm x 2cm x 2cm) is the woods sample that being used. All woods samples were treated with all the selected herbs extract. The repellent testing was conducted for 21 days. The result obtained showed that the three herbs were effective to be used as repellent when compared to percentage weight loss of control, which is 23.58%. The percentages of weight loss of treated groups using aqueous extraction of herbs were 0.61% (lemongrass), 1.56% (mint), and 1.72% (garlic), whereas for methanol extraction of herbs were 0.52% (lemongrass), 1.13% (mint) and 1.55% (garlic). From Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), there is significant different in mean among group with F=275.49, p- value=0.000
Termite nests have long been suggested to be good indicators of groundwater but only a few studies are available to demonstrate the relationship between the two. This study therefore aims at investigating the most favourable spots for locating groundwater structures on a small parcel of land with conspicuous termite activity. To achieve this, geophysical soundings using the renowned vertical electrical sounding (VES) technique was carried out on the gridded study area. A total of nine VESs with one at the foot of a termitarium were conducted. The VES results were interpreted and assessed via two different techniques: (1) physical evaluation as performed by drillers in the field and (2) integration of primary and secondary geoelectrical parameters in a geographic information system (GIS). The result of the physical evaluation indicated a clear case of subjectivity in the interpretation but was consistent with the choice of VES points 1 and 6 (termitarium location) as being the most prospective points to be considered for drilling. Similarly, the integration of the geoelectrical parameters led to the mapping of the most prospective groundwater portion of the study area with the termitarium chiefly in the center of the most suitable region. This shows that termitaria are valuable landscape features that can be employed as biomarkers in the search of groundwater.
Animal interactions play an important role in understanding ecological processes. The nature and intensity of these interactions can shape the impacts of organisms on their environment. Because ants and termites, with their high biomass and range of ecological functions, have considerable effects on their environment, the interaction between them is important for ecosystem processes. Although the manner in which ants and termites interact is becoming increasingly well studied, there has been no synthesis to date of the available literature. Here we review and synthesise all existing literature on ant-termite interactions. We infer that ant predation on termites is the most important, most widespread, and most studied type of interaction. Predatory ant species can regulate termite populations and subsequently slow down the decomposition of wood, litter and soil organic matter. As a consequence they also affect plant growth and distribution, nutrient cycling and nutrient availability. Although some ant species are specialised termite predators, there is probably a high level of opportunistic predation by generalist ant species, and hence their impact on ecosystem processes that termites are known to provide varies at the species level. The most fruitful future research direction will be to evaluate the impact of ant-termite predation on broader ecosystem processes. To do this it will be necessary to quantify the efficacy both of particular ant species and of ant communities as a whole in regulating termite populations in different biomes. We envisage that this work will require a combination of methods, including DNA barcoding of ant gut contents along with field observations and exclusion experiments. Such a combined approach is necessary for assessing how this interaction influences entire ecosystems.
The subterranean termite Globitermus sulphureus is an important Southeast Asian pest with limited genomic resources that causes damages to agriculture crops and building structures. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to survey the G. sulphureus transcriptome composition. Here, we performed de novo transcriptome for G. sulphureus workers' heads using Illumina HiSeq paired-end sequencing technology. A total of 88, 639, 408 clean reads were collected and assembled into 243, 057 transcripts and 193, 344 putative genes. The transcripts were annotated with the Trinotate pipeline. In total, 27, 061 transcripts were successfully annotated using BLASTX against the SwissProt database and 17, 816 genes were assigned to 47, 598 GO terms. We classified 14, 223 transcripts into COG classification, resulting in 25 groups of functional annotations. Next, a total of 12, 194 genes were matched in the KEGG pathway and 392 metabolic pathways were predicted based on the annotation. Moreover, we detected two endogenous cellulases in the sequences. The RT-qPCR analysis showed that there were significant differences in the expression levels of two genes β-glucosidase and endo-β-1,4-glucanase between worker and soldier heads of G. sulphureus. This is the first study to characterize the complete head transcriptome of a higher termite G. sulphureus using a high-throughput sequencing. Our study may provide an overview and comprehensive molecular resource for comparative studies of the transcriptomics and genomics of termites.
In some parts of tropical Africa, termite mound locations are traditionally used to site groundwater structures mainly in the form of hand-dug wells with high success rates. However, the scientific rationale behind the use of mounds as prospective sites for locating groundwater structures has not been thoroughly investigated. In this paper, locations and structural features of termite mounds were mapped with the aim of determining the aquifer potential beneath termite mounds and comparing the same with adjacent areas, 10 m away. Soil and species sampling, field surveys and laboratory analyses to obtain data on physical, hydraulic and geo-electrical parameters from termite mounds and adjacent control areas followed. The physical and hydraulic measurements demonstrated relatively higher infiltration rates and lower soil water content on mound soils compared with the surrounding areas. To assess the aquifer potential, vertical electrical soundings were conducted on 28 termite mounds sites and adjacent control areas. Three (3) important parameters were assessed to compute potential weights for each Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) point: Depth to bedrock, aquifer layer resistivity and fresh/fractured bedrock resistivity. These weights were then compared between those of termite mound sites and those from control areas. The result revealed that about 43% of mound sites have greater aquifer potential compared to the surrounding areas, whereas 28.5% of mounds have equal and lower potentials compared with the surrounding areas. The study concludes that termite mounds locations are suitable spots for groundwater prospecting owing to the deeper regolith layer beneath them which suggests that termites either have the ability to locate places with a deeper weathering horizon or are themselves agents of biological weathering. Further studies to check how representative our study area is of other areas with similar termite activities are recommended.
Termite-mediated decomposition is an important, but often overlooked, component of the carbon cycle. Using a large-scale suppression experiment in Borneo, Griffiths et al. found that termites contribute between 58 and 64% of mass loss from dead wood.
Termites perform key ecological functions in tropical ecosystems, are strongly affected by variation in rainfall, and respond negatively to habitat disturbance. However, it is not known how the projected increase in frequency and severity of droughts in tropical rainforests will alter termite communities and the maintenance of ecosystem processes. Using a large-scale termite suppression experiment, we found that termite activity and abundance increased during drought in a Bornean forest. This increase resulted in accelerated litter decomposition, elevated soil moisture, greater soil nutrient heterogeneity, and higher seedling survival rates during the extreme El Niño drought of 2015-2016. Our work shows how an invertebrate group enhances ecosystem resistance to drought, providing evidence that the dual stressors of climate change and anthropogenic shifts in biotic communities will have various negative consequences for the maintenance of rainforest ecosystems.
This study examined the tunneling activity and the behaviour of two subterranean termites, Globitermes sulphurues and Coptotermes gestroi treated with four plant extracts, namely Pyllanthus niruri, Azadirachta indica, Leucaena leucocephala and Andrographis paniculata. All plants were extracted with three different solvents (methanol, hexane and water) and were diluted into three concentrations (500, 5,000 and 10,000 ppm). A group of 50 workers and 2 soldiers were tested and observed daily during the exposure in order to determine their survivorship and behaviour. Both sections were scored to determine their tunneling activities after seven days. There was a significant difference of tunneling activities of C. gestroi on sand treated with plant extracts (X2(2) = 31.790, p < 0.0001) with a mean rank of 8.50 for methanolic extracts and 32.50 for both hexane and water extracts. Meanwhile, no significant difference was observed on tunneling activity of G. sulphureus on treated sand (X2(2) = 2.200, p = 0.333) with a mean rank of 20.72 for methanolic extracts, 26.31 for water extracts and 26.47 for hexane extracts. Results showed that plants extracted with methanol demonstrated strong repellent properties with 0 tunneling activity on the treated sand and low survivorship of both termites. Moreover, both termites did not survive (0%) when they were treated with methanolic extracts at 10,000 ppm. They also displayed a different behaviour post-exposure such as avoidance, gradually losing the ability to walk and low feeding consumption. These results indicate that there is a strong termiticidal activity of plants extracted with methanol against C. gestroi and G. sulphureus.
Studies on fungal taxonomy and fungal diversity are crucial for a better understanding of the interactions between fungi and their habitats. To date, there is no published record on macrofungal diversity in Pulau Bidong, Terengganu. Therefore, this study aimed to identify macrofungi species found with their respective substrates and to determine the macrofungal diversity in the island. The study was conducted at two different occasions and comprised of two trails near Universiti Malaysia Terengganu Research Station in Pulau Bidong, Terengganu. Collectionof fresh macrofungi was made and additional data including host information, distinctive features of each fungal sample and several environmental parameters was also recorded. Fresh specimens were later observed and identified before being dried prior to storage. Overall, 65 macrofungal species with 2 unidentified species belonging to 21 families and 34 genera were recorded. Trail A and trail B recorded diversity index of2.67 and 3.14 for Shannon Index while Simpson index recorded 0.90 and 0.94 respectively. The macrofungal diversity was dominated by family Polyporaceae while rare species discovered were from family of Tricholomataceae, Hericiaceae, Stereaceae, Schizophyllaceae, Sclerodermataceae, Dacrymycetaceae, Tremellaceae, Russulaceae and Clavulinaceae. The most common macrofungal substrates was decayed branches while other macrofungal substrates found were decayed trunks and leaves, soil,termite mounds, and living tree. In conclusion, the macrofungal species were randomlydistributed with high diversity in both trails. Therefore, it is recommended that anincrease in sampling trips, sampling efforts and areas covered be provided to increase the number of macrofungal species discovered and accuracy of diversity studies in the future.
Termites are found in various habitats, particularly diverse communities occurring in tropical forest and peatlands.
Termites are beneficial insects, which function as soil engineers, improving the soil quality. However, in peatlands
converted to commercial oil palm plantations, they are considered as pests. There is lack of studies on termite communities
in converted peatlands in Peninsular Malaysia. Thus, this study investigated termite species associated with oil palm
stands in three soil types (clay, shallow peat and deep peat) in Endau Rompin Plantation. The stand scouting method
was used to record the numbers and types of termites associated with palm trees in the individual stands on different
soil types. A total of 29 termite species associated with the palm stands were identified morphologically. All the species
belonged to the families Rhinotermitidae and Termitidae. Twenty-three of the 29 species were found in the shallow peat,
16 in clay soil and 15 in deep peat. The community structure was synthesized by two-way cluster analysis with Sorensen
(Bray Curtis) distance measure. Five termite groups associated with two soil types (clay soil and shallow/deep peat)
were generated. Moisture levels and organic content were likely to determine the presence of soil feeders identified in
the presence study. This study provides information on the status of termite species in oil palm plantation areas. Such
information may be useful in future planning strategies by the plantation management.
The effects of alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ) and zinc borate (ZB) on the resistance of corn stalk fiber (CSF)-reinforced high-density polyethylene (HDPE) composites to biodegradation were examined. Both biocides could inhibit termites, mold fungi, and wood-decay fungi, even at high CSF formulations (i.e., 60%). Additionally, ACQ enhanced the resistance of the composite materials to certain biotic stresses better than ZB. The CSF/HDPE composites treated with ACQ at the 3.0% level exhibited a superior performance against termites, white rot fungi, and brown rot fungi. ACQ treatment at the 1% level was optimal for inhibiting soft rot fungi. Furthermore, mold growth was not observed on ACQ-treated CSF/HDPE samples. The untreated CSF/HDPE composites were more susceptible to mold infections and decay than the untreated poplar/HDPE composites, likely because of an incomplete removal of the pith. The chemical features of the corn stalk may also have influenced these differences, but this possibility will need to be explored in future investigations. Furthermore, the CSF component of CSF/HDPE composites is highly susceptible to fungal attacks, with the soft rot fungus inducing the largest mass losses, followed by the white rot fungus, and then the brown rot fungus.
A survey on termite species composition was conducted in Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary, Sarawak in February 2015. Overall 19 species of termite belonging to 13 genera and 8 subfamilies was found in the sanctuary. It was recorded the subfamily of Termitinae had the highest number of species (6 species, equal to 31.58% of total species), followed by Nasutermitinae (3 species, 15.79%), Macrotermitinae, Amitermitinae, Rhinotermitinae, Coptotermitinae, (2 species, 10.53% respectively), and Heterotermitinae, Termitogetoninae (1 species, 5.26% respectively). Since this rapid survey is the first termite assemblage representation in Samunsam Wildlife Sanctuary, the preliminary result may serve as the baseline data for termite composition in the area. Therefore, a whole coverage for the area within this sanctuary would definitely increase the number of termite species found in the sanctuary.
Coptotermes curvignathus is a termite that, owing to its ability to digest living trees, serves as a gold mine for robust industrial enzymes. This unique characteristic reflects the presence of very efficient hydrolytic enzyme systems including cellulases. Transcriptomic analyses of the gut of C. curvignathus revealed that carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZy) were encoded by 3254 transcripts and that included 69 transcripts encoding glycoside hydrolase family 7 (GHF7) enzymes. Since GHF7 enzymes are useful to the biomass conversion industry, a gene encoding for a GHF7 enzyme (Gh1254) was synthesized, sub-cloned and expressed in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. Expressed GH1254 had an apparent molecular mass of 42 kDa, but purification was hampered by its low expression levels in shaken flasks. To obtain more of the enzyme, GH1254 was produced in a bioreactor that resulted in a fourfold increase in crude enzyme levels. The purified enzyme was active towards soluble synthetic substrates such as 4-methylumbelliferyl-β-D-cellobioside, 4-nitrophenyl-β-D-cellobioside and 4-nitrophenyl-β-D-lactoside but was non-hydrolytic towards Avicel or carboxymethyl cellulose. GH1254 catalyzed optimally at 35 °C and maintained 70% of its activity at 25 °C. This enzyme is thus potentially useful in food industries employing low-temperature conditions.
Dispersal of soil-dwelling organisms via the repeatedly exposed Sunda shelf through much of the Pleistocene in Southeast Asia has not been studied extensively, especially for invertebrates. Here we investigated the phylogeography of an endemic termite species, Macrotermes gilvus (Hagen), to elucidate the spatiotemporal dynamics of dispersal routes of terrestrial fauna in Pleistocene Southeast Asia. We sampled 213 termite colonies from 66 localities throughout the region. Independently inherited microsatellites and mtDNA markers were used to infer the phylogeographic framework of M. gilvus. Discrete phylogeographic analysis and molecular dating based on fossil calibration were used to infer the dynamics of M. gilvus dispersal in time and space across Southeast Asia. We found that the termite dispersal events were consistently dated within the Pleistocene time frame. The dispersal pattern was multidirectional, radiating eastwards and southwards out of Indochina, which was identified as the origin for dispersal events. We found no direct dispersal events between Sumatra and Borneo despite the presence of a terrestrial connection between them during the Pleistocene. Instead, central Java served as an important link allowing termite colonies to be established in Borneo and Sumatra. Our findings support the hypothesis of a north-south dispersal corridor in Southeast Asia and suggest the presence of alternative dispersal routes across Sundaland during the Pleistocene. For the first time, we also propose that a west-east dispersal through over-water rafting likely occurred across the Pleistocene South China Sea. We found at least two independent entry routes for terrestrial species to infiltrate Sumatra and Borneo at different times.