International Journal of Wood Science, Technology and Forestry Vol. 5 (2), pp. 104-110, February, 2018. © Advanced Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper 

Extensive survey of termites in different forests of the Punjab

*Dambudzo Michael Hoffman, Peter Tekere and Chenjerai Nkomo

Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science, The University of Melbourne 500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, Vic, 3112, Australia.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] 

Accepted 05 January, 2018

Abstract 

Termites were surveyed in seven forests (plantations) of Punjab (Bhagat, Kamalia, Chichawatni, Changa Manga, Jallo Forest Park, Daphar and Attock) in 2008. Twelve termite species were observed from soil, dead logs, and live wood and living trees. Host trees were also identified. The percentage of infested trees in Kamalia, Bhagat, Chichawatni, Changa Manga, Jallo Forest Park, Daphar and Attock forests were 22.5, 20, 19.6, 15.5, 10, 20 and 12.1% respectively. Examination of dead wood in seven forests showed that an average of three quarters of wood pieces was attacked by termites. The number of termites per unit volume of dead wood was also determined in these forests and it was almost similar (0.4 per cm³) in all the forests. It was also investigated that the size of colony was correlated with the volume of dead wood and it ranged from 26 to 2,784 termites, the soldier caste ranged from 2.1 to 20% of the total population of termite colony. In all these forests, 20% of dead wooden logs and branches showed signs of subterranean termite.

Key words: Termite species, forests, Punjab, colony size, volume of dead wood.