PEOPLE ASK ABOUT DESERT TERMITES

Wish I could devise a fast and easy survey to determine how many “head” or animal units of desert termites are present on our rangeland at any point in time but animals that live below ground are hard to count! A study we did in 1972-74 on the Llano Estacado west of Post, TX may give the folks an idea on the scale of the potential survey results ( reference: Ecology 57:1273-1280). Averaged over all sampling dates, there were 9.353 million termites per acre, weighing in at 50.2 pounds/acre and we only sampled the upper foot of soil. For comparison to cattle, a stocking rate of one 1,000 lb cow to 20 acres would equal 50 pounds/ac. In a relatively mesic (moist) year, we recorded an avg. of 12.16 million per acre in the surface 1 ft of soil, equal to 67.6 lb/ac. In a more xeric (dry) year, there were only 6.78 million termites/ac and 37.65 lb/ac. The peak numbers, in September 1972, were 36.94 million and 205.5 lb/ac and this did not include the strays doing their business below 1 ft deep.

Based upon a desert termite feeding trial we did (Environ. Entomol. 5:1022-1025), each termite could consume at least 0.5 mg of herbage or mulch per day, so a population of 9.35 million termites/ac could easily consume 2,500 lb of herbage and mulch per acre during a 240-day feeding season ( but they may eat 365 days a year!). The hungry boogers have consumed everything in the photo.