Version 1
: Received: 25 October 2021 / Approved: 26 October 2021 / Online: 26 October 2021 (15:44:16 CEST)
Version 2
: Received: 2 December 2021 / Approved: 3 December 2021 / Online: 3 December 2021 (10:12:33 CET)
Tay, J.-W.; James, D. Field Demonstration of Heat Technology to Mitigate Heat Sinks for Drywood Termite (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae) Management. Insects2021, 12, 1090.
Tay, J.-W.; James, D. Field Demonstration of Heat Technology to Mitigate Heat Sinks for Drywood Termite (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae) Management. Insects 2021, 12, 1090.
Tay, J.-W.; James, D. Field Demonstration of Heat Technology to Mitigate Heat Sinks for Drywood Termite (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae) Management. Insects2021, 12, 1090.
Tay, J.-W.; James, D. Field Demonstration of Heat Technology to Mitigate Heat Sinks for Drywood Termite (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae) Management. Insects 2021, 12, 1090.
Abstract
With heat treatments to control drywood termites (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae), the presence of heat sinks causes heat to be distributed unevenly throughout the treatment areas. Drywood termites may move to galleries in heat sink areas to avoid exposure to lethal temperatures. Our studies were conducted in Crytotermes brevis-infested condominiums in Honolulu, Hawaii to reflect real-world condominium scenarios; either a standard heat treatment performed by a heat remediation company or an improved heat treatment was used. For improved treatments, heated air was directed into the toe-kick voids of C. brevis infested cabinets to reduce heat sink effects and increase the heat penetration into these difficult-to-heat areas. Eight thermistor sensors placed inside toe-kick voids, treatment zone, embedded inside cabinets’ sidewalls, and in a wooden cube recorded target temperatures of above 46 °C or 50°C for 120 minutes. A pretreatment and follow-up inspections were performed at 6 months posttreatment to monitor termite inactivity using visual observations and by recording the numbers of spiked peaks on a microwave technology termite detection device (Termatrac). In improved treatment condominiums, significantly higher numbers of spiked peaks were recorded at pretreatment as compared to 6 months posttreatment. Efficacious heat treatment protocols using the improved methods are proposed.
Keywords
heat treatment; termite control; termites; Crytotermes brevis; wood pest; heat technology; non-chemical; pest management; condominium; temperature sensor
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Insect Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Received:
3 December 2021
Commenter:
Jia-Wei Tay
Commenter's Conflict of Interests:
Author
Comment:
The title has been changed to "Field Demonstration of Heat Technology to Mitigate Heat Sinks for Drywood Termite (Blattodea: Kalotermitidae) Management" and the content has undergone major revision since the earlier version.
Commenter: Jia-Wei Tay
Commenter's Conflict of Interests: Author