How to translate text using browser tools
1 February 2023 Feeding Preferences by Reticulitermes tibialis (Blattodea: Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) between Four Tallgrass Prairie Grasses
A. L. Smith, M. P. Smith, B. M. Kard, M. E. Payton
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Termite researchers on The Nature Conservancy's Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in northeast Oklahoma have long been interested about nutritional resources used by subterranean termites inhabiting the Preserve. In 12-week choice and no-choice laboratory feeding tests, subterranean termites were fed a mixture of stems-and-leaves, or roots only, of four predominant grasses growing on the Preserve: Indiangrass – Sorghastrum nutans L; Switchgrass – Panicum vigatum L; Big Bluestem – Andropogan gerardii Vitman; and Little Bluestem – Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.). Termites consumed all of these food choices but preferred roots compared with stems and leaves. In choice feeding tests, termites preferred Switchgrass roots. In no-choice feeding tests, roots of Indiangrass and Big Bluestem were consumed in greatest amounts. All four grasses were palatable to Reticulitermes tibialis, a subterranean termite common throughout the Preserve.

© 2021 Kansas Entomological Society
A. L. Smith, M. P. Smith, B. M. Kard, and M. E. Payton "Feeding Preferences by Reticulitermes tibialis (Blattodea: Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) between Four Tallgrass Prairie Grasses," Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 94(4), 267-276, (1 February 2023). https://doi.org/10.2317/0022-8567-94.4.267
Received: 10 November 2021; Accepted: 12 June 2022; Published: 1 February 2023
KEYWORDS
Big bluestem
indiangrass
little bluestem
subterranean termites
switchgrass
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top