Study On The Dynamic Regulation Of The Colony Of The Subterranean Termite Macrotermes Barneyi Light(Isoptera:Termitidae)

This paper studied the dynamic regulation of the colony of the subterranean termite M barneyi Light. A series of experiments was carried out in the winter, by investigating the area of the nuptial flight holes in the woodland and excavating 30 nests of M. barneyi in Jingshishan forestry centre, Dongzhi County: study of the relationship between images of swarming holes and the position of the anthills; study of the intraspecific competition between M. barneyi, Coptotermes changtaiensis Xia et He, Reticulitermes longipennis Wang et Li and Odontotermesfontanellus Kemner; conspecific compatibility of M. barneyi from different colonies; calculating the formula for the volume of the oval paraboloidal sphere; establishing models of the relationships between anthill parameters by applying a statistical package of the social science. In the 30 main nests of M. barneyi, there are 15 nests with one king and one queen, 14 nests with one king and two or more than two queens. The colonies donot surpass 0.5 million individuals. The juvenile termites are in the majority with 153820?69781.5 individuals, which is 54.9% of the total of all colonies, irrespective the type. Little workers are second most abundant, with 70982.0?34022.6 individuals and 25.4%. Large workers are third, with 40313.6 ?22522.4 individuals and 14.4%. Little and large soldiers are the least abundant, 6 with 14833.4?329.6 and 766.1?21.9 individuals and 5.3 and 0.3% respectively. Study of the images of nuptial flight holes and positions of anthulls reveals four types: (1) outside location of the main nests, that is to say, anthills donot encompass nuptial flight holes and they are separated; (2) internal location of the main nests, ant hillocks are in the inside of the swarming holes; (3) parallel types of nests, anthills parallels nuptial flight holes and (4) vertical types of nests, anthulls are vertical to nuptial flight holes. For mature anthills, the number of nuptial flight holes (Nf) and the volume of the anthill (Va) follow the compound and logistic models: Models of the relationships between anthill parameters are established by applying a statistical package of the social science as follows. In single factor analysis, the queens volume (Y) and length (X) relate to the compound, growth and exponential models as follows: compound : Y10.ll3720X1.863569X1 or growth : Y2= e(2174014+O622494xx2) or exponential: Y3 = 0.113720e0622494xX3 The relationship between the volume of the main nest (Yv~) and the total number of termite (Xt) follow the S curve model: In multiple factors analysis, the queen volume (Yvq) shows linear correlations with the queen length (XLq) and the depth of the anthill (Xh) with the equation: Y\抭 l.339+O.799XLqO.00628Xh Also, the number of queen (Yn) shows linear correlations with the number of little soldier (X~5), the volume of the anthill (Xv~) and the queen volume (vq) with the formula: 7 Yn = 0.71 O監.00006944Xss+O.574XvnO.46lXvq In the heterospecific competition of the four termites, there is a temptation to extrapolate the formula from the intraspecific competition as follows: C. changtaiensis> M. barneyi > 0. fontanellus >R. longipennis. It e...