• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.21-29
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• 2008

The deterioration of Korean traditional wooden house located in seoul was estimated. This house was attacked by termite. To estimate damage status of buildings, non-destructive methods were applied. Some of the post needed to be replaced due to low strength, estimated by nondestructive methods. The house was installed with boiler heating facility, to use office and public education. This kind of heating system changed the environmental condition of the wooden house. The termite which attacked the house was classified as Reticulitermes speratus. Because of durability of wooden house effected by environment, control of the environmental condition is essential for maintaining the wooden house. The installation of modern facility to traditional wooden house should not change the traditional structure and do not effect to durability of wooden house.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.70-86
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• 2024

Termites are a serious threat to wood-based products in Indonesia. This study investigated the termite resistant property of glulam made from polystyrene-modified wood. Three tropical fast-growing wood species, namely mangium (Acacia mangium), manii (Maesopsis eminii), and rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis), were prepared for flat-sawn laminae. After getting air-dried condition, the laminae were impregnated with polystyrene using potassium peroxydisulphate as a catalyst followed by polymerization at 80℃. Polystyrene-impregnated and control glued-laminated lumbers (glulams) were manufactured, and solid wood was provided. Three wood species and three wood products with six replicates were exposed in a field in Bogor, Indonesia, for four months, and before the tests, their density and moisture content were measured. At the end of the field tests, the weight loss and protection levels of each test sample were determined. A completely randomized factorial design was used for data analysis. The weight percentage gains for mangium, manii, and rubberwood were 22.30%, 18.22%, and 10.44%, respectively. The results showed that manii belonged to low-density wood, whereas the other two woods were medium-density wood, and the moisture content was the ambient moisture content, typical of the Bogor area. Regarding weight loss and protection level, mangium was the most durable against subterranean termite attacks, followed by rubberwood and manii. Among the wood products, the polystyrene-impregnated glulam presented the highest durability, followed by the control glulam and solid wood. Therefore, mangium and rubberwood polystyrene-impregnated glulams are recommended for future product development.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.333-338
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• 2020

Dye markers are used in the study of subterranean termites to determine colony territories and population sizes. Dyes not only allow the study of termite biology, but can also be used for control purposes. Although Reticulitermes speratus kyushuensis causes damage to wooden historical properties in Korea, the dye markers have not been applied. Therefore, we evaluated the applicability of Nile Blue A dye for R. s. kyushuensis. Filter papers dyed with concentrations of 0.05%, 0.10%, and 0.25% (w/w) were each fed to termite populations through a no-choice feeding test for 1, 3, or 7 days. After 4 weeks, the survival rate, dyeing rate, and maintenance of dyeing were recorded. The results showed high survival rates with lower dye concentrations and shorter feeding periods. Among the combinations of concentrations and days, high survival rates, dyeing rates, and dyeing maintenance periods were found at concentrations of 0.05% and 0.10% for 3 days of feeding. These maximized the survivorship and visibility. The results from the current study can be applied to investigate the ecology and control of R. s. kyushuensis in both the laboratory and field.

• Journal of the Korea Society for Simulation
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

Subterranean termites forage by constructing tunnel networks in soil and encounter food resources during tunnel excavation. Some species of termites can travel up to 150 m underground. They often travel to the surface to find wood cellulose to feed their colony, which in turn causes extensive damage to wooden architecture, such as timber-frame houses. This type of damage has been constantly increasing along with global warming because higher temperatures provide an ecological niche for termites. The damage is closely related to termite territory size and distribution. Recently, as a way to research termite control, the necessity of a mathematical model to simulate termite territory formation in relation to damage has increased. So far, however, few studies have been conducted on the development of a model because it is difficult to quantify or characterize the relationship between territorial behavior and field conditions including complicated environmental factors. In the present study, we suggest a simulation model of the territoriality of the Formosan subterranean termites, Coptotermes formosanus (Shiraki), and Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar), based on empirical data. The model consists of 2 procedures. One describes tunnel network growth for each colony, and the other represents territoriality based on tunnel-tunnel interactions between different colonies. Using the model, we show changes in territorial competition according to the termination probability of tunnel growth.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.804-809
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• 2015

Since Korea is home to Reticulitermes speratus, a kind of subterranean termites that prefer dark and humid conditions, there have been increasing damages to wooden structures by termites. One noticeable attribute of Korean subterranean termites is that they prefer than Pinus densiflora, the major construction material for Korean traditional houses. And because wide varieties of termites are distributed all over the world, it is not so easy to choose appropriate control methods depending on specific areas. This necessitates careful applications of the following control methods depending on the kinds of termites: fumigation treatment, soil termiticide, preservatives and insect treatment, termite colony elimination system, chemical treatment, and other physical and biological treatment methods. The purpose of this study is to investigate the control effects of environmentally-friendly Alkaline copper quaternary (ACQ), Copper Azole (CuAZ) and Micronized copper quarter (MCQ) on the termites contributing to the damage of wooden structures. It was found in this study that wood with preservative treatment produced a significantly higher termicidal efficacy than untreated wood.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.771-780
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• 2018

To develope a microbial weed control agent, HCN-producing bacteria were isolated, and their characteristics were investigated. A selected strain of WA15 was identified as Pseudomonas koreensis by morphological, cultural, biochemical and 16S rRNA gene analyses. The conditions for HCN production was investigated by a One-Variable-at-a-Time (OVT) method. The optimal HCN production conditions were tryptone 1%, glycine 0.06%, NaCl 1%, and an initial pH and temperature of 5.0 and $30^{\circ}C$, respectively. The major component for HCN production was glycine. Under optimal conditions, HCN production was about 3 times higher than that of the basal medium. The WA15 strain had physiological activities, such as indoleacetic acid that was associated with the elongation of plant roots and siderophore and ammonification inhibiting fungal growth, and produced hydrolytic enzymes, such as cellulase, pectinase and lipase. The strain was able to inhibit the growth of phytopathogenic fungi, such as Rhizoctonia solani, Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium oxysporum, by the synergistic action of volatile HCN and diffusible antimicrobial compounds. A microscopic observation of R. solani that was teated with the WA15 strain showed morphological abnormalities of fungal mycelia, which could explain the role of the antimicrobial metabolites that were produced by the WA15 strain. The volatile HCN produced by the WA15 strain was also found to have insecticidal activity against termites. Our results indicate that Pseudomonas koreensis WA15 can be applied as a microbial agent for weed control and also as a termite repellent. Furthermore, it could be applied as a microbial termiticidal agent to replace synthetic insecticides.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.80-86
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• 2022

Termites cause massive damage to wooden architectural heritage structures. Chemical treatments have been commonly used to control them. In foreign countries, physical barriers made of sheet and particles impenetrable to termite are being used as an alternative to the chemical method. To study the efficacy of physical barriers, we investigated the appropriate sand particle size that can prevent the penetration of R. speratus kyushuensis. Upon evaluating the barrier properties of sand with particle sizes ranging from 0.85 to 4.00 mm, the penetration of termites was found to be effectively blocked at a particle size range of 1.00 to 2.80 mm. At smaller particle sizes, termites managed to move the sand particles and build an almost linear mud tube to penetrate the sand layer. At larger particle sizes, the termites could penetrate the sand layer by passing through the sand gaps.

• 보존과학연구
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• s.28
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• pp.59-73
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• 2007

Wooden artifacts are biologically damaged by animals, insects, and micro-organisms. We focused on the evaluation of the antifungal and insecticidal activities of tree extracts to control deterioration of wooden cultural properties. 12 kinds of methanol extracts from 9 species of tree were investigated for their biocidal activities against two micro-organisms and two spices of insect. Most tree extracts showed fungicidal activities to Tyromyces palustris and Trametes versicolor. Among 12 different tree extracts, the strongest antifungal activity against T.palustris and T.versicolor was observed from the extracts of Pinus densiflora stem-bark extract and Pinus koraiensis leaf extracts. However, in the insecticidal activity test, Pinus densiflora stem-bark extracts against termite was relatively effective. Chemical compositions of methanol extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. As a result, it was confirmed that development of biocide based on the natural extracts can be expected to conservate of wooden cultural properties.

• 보존과학연구
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• s.34
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• pp.84-99
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• 2013

There are more than 2,900 different species of termites in the world, and just there are 23 species in Japan. They caused more severe infestation compared with Korea. When a structure has become infested with termites, it is important that appropriate action must be taken: the chemical pest control (fumigation, soil termiticide treatment, bait system etc.) or the non-chemical pest control (low oxygen treatment, carbon dioxide treatment, high/low temperature treatment etc.). Especially, there were attempts to make practical protocol of various alternatives since the fumigant(methyl bromide) had been phased out in 2005 in Japan, and practically non-chemical methods would be effective alternatives for some cases, where the scale of infestation is small and limited and when long treatment is possible. But most of all, it is important that the process of pest control is made according to each species of termites with consideration for different characteristics of termites.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.77-81
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• 2010

We separated the bacteria showing protease activity from Reticulitermes speratus which is known as the only termite species in Korea. Then, we collected the best activated strain and studied the optimal culture condition for producing the enzyme. According to the results of observing morphological and physiological characteristics, and the type of 16S rRNA of the strain, it was identified as Serratia marcescens and named S. marcescens strain TM-3215. This strain showed the best activity under conditions of 0.8% (w/v) starch, 0.4% (w/v) peptone, 0.08% (w/v) $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$, $30^{\circ}C$ and pH 8.0. After being cultivated under optimal conditions for 9 hr, the strain produced 19.8 U/ml of enzyme, an amount 1.8 times greater than the control.