University of Florida entomologist Nan-Yao Su is
fumbling with the controls of a complicated-looking piece of equipment, clearly frustrated
that the machine is not behaving as expected.
Sitting on the floor of the hall of statues in the Presbytere on Jackson
Square, Su attaches and then removes cylindrical metal sensors connected by wires
to a hand-held monitor from a floorboard.
A nasty buzzing emanates from the monitor, a sound that is supposed to
indicate that termites are eating wood inside the board.
There is just one problem.
We know there arent any termites here, Su
said. Are there any electrical wires under the floor? Any lights on the
ceiling of the room below?
The problem is traced to interference from a row of fluorescent lights and
the electrical circuits controlling them on the first floor.
This is not an encouraging sign for Dow AgroSciences latest effort to
build a practical termite sensor. While the device often can be effective in
counting termites in infested walls and floors, false alarms from
electrical wiring would seem to be a fatal flaw for operating in most modern households.
This is only the latest setback in the quest for what is becoming the Holy
Grail in the world of termite control: the search for a way to spot termites where they
live and work.
One thing that makes termites so destructive is their ability to enter a
structure, become entrenched and devour wood for years before they are detected.
The Formosan termite burrows inside wood, always keeping below the surface
to protect itself from light, air and dehydration. Rarely will it break through to the
outside until the wood is mostly eaten.
That stealthy behavior has also helped spread the termites as humans
unknowingly transport infested wood to new territories.
For instance, a cypress beam removed from an old New Orleans house about 10
years ago was taken to Baton Rouge and used in a new house. Soon after the beam was
installed, termites began to construct shelter tubes as they moved to other wood.
They ended up with a whole colony in the house before it was
finished being built, Louisiana State University entomologist Gregg Henderson
said. But nobodys at fault. There was no way that anyone knew it was
infested until they started moving out of the beam.
The obvious solution would be a device to check such wood being used for
construction. But no one has come up with a detector thats cheap enough to be
I cant imagine the expense involved in X-raying every
piece of wood leaving a warehouse in New Orleans, Henderson said.
Better detection methods also would be a boon for dealing with tree
infestations, where pest-control operators often cant determine the extent or
location of an infestation without cutting into the tree.
Its not for lack of trying that such a device is not on the market.
Some of the prototypes would make a spymaster envious:
Theres the laproscope, a miniature telescope on a cable that can
squeeze through holes in walls to view the termite nests that may be lurking inside. A
newer version uses fiber-optics, so a smaller hole can be drilled in walls and other
But this tool is useful only when the inspector already has a good idea of
where termites may be hiding, and the images are difficult to see.