One of the biggest problems with termite control has always been the location of termite colonies and identification of infestations. That is to say that there are sometimes issues with the application of termite control measures because of the uncertainty over whether or not there is only one colony being targeted, whether or not the original colony has been eradicated successfully after certain termite treatments have been applied, and where the boundaries of a particular termite colony’s infestation lie.
Fortunately, however, researchers have been working to come up with an answer to these problems. To that end, two entomologists from CTAHR have come up with a pretty promising solution: DNA fingerprinting.
DNA fingerprinting, which is sometimes called DNA profiling, DNA testing, or DNA typing), is a technique most often used by scientists in the forensic field of research to help them identify individual specimens according to DNA profiles. Since each DNA fingerprint is unique, this permits researchers to distinguish individuals from each other; nonetheless, given that DNA fingerprints actually do exhibit the traits of heredity when related individuals’ “fingerprints” are compared, familial links may be recognised by profiling a certain individual’s DNA fingerprint as bearing some “type characteristics” that may be seen in a related individual’s fingerprint.
While this is more popularly known to be applied to humans for various medical and criminal situations, it is apparently being applied now to termites. The CTAHR researchers, Claude Husseneder and J. Kenneth Grace, have used DNA fingerprinting to identify individual termites and also trace their lineages, permitting the scientists to identify related termites and ones not related to each other.
You might well wonder what this has to do with termite control. So what if we know two termites are siblings or cousins, you might ask. Well, as suggested earlier, one of the issues termite treatment specialists constantly have to deal with is the question of whether or not are dealing with only one colony or another. This can help them allocate resources appropriately and more effectively. If DNA fingerprinting permits them to test termites and identify familial links between specimens (termites from the same colony are relatives and termites from different colonies are not), they shall have a ready answer to that question.
This goes on to cover the other issues mentioned before. The technology shall also permit termite control experts to figure out where each colony’s territories lie and whether or not they were successful in eradicating the first (first to be detected, to be precise) infestation. This helps them monitor and deal with any possible reappearances or resurgence in the termites after termite treatment has already been executed, making them more effective in their job of eliminating the pests.
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