• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.49-57
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• 2023

This research aimed to evaluate the durability of Samama (Anthocephalus macrophyllus) wood treated with boron preservatives, citric acid (CA), and heating against termites. Wood samples were impregnated firstly with 5% boron solutions, such as boric acid, borax and boric acid + borax combination at 1:1 (w/w). The second impregnation used 5% CA. The impregnations were conducted in a pressure tank at 7 kg/cm² for 4 hours. After impregnation, the samples were heat treated at 80℃ or 160℃. All the treated and control samples were exposed to decay fungi, drywood termites and subterranean termites based on SNI 7207:2014 standard. The results showed that boron preservatives reduced fungal attacks on Samama wood. The combination treatment of boric acid, CA and heat treatment at 160℃ was also effective to increase the resistance of Samama wood against white- and brown rot fungi, and drywood termites. Heat treatment consistently improved the resistance of Samama wood from decay fungi.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.458-474
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• 2022

Many methods have been explored to increase the palatability of pine (Pinus merkusii), the most common wood used for termite baiting. However, because of the undersupply of pine in Indonesia, it is crucial to vary the wood species for termite baiting and look for potential alternatives. Furthermore, various studies have shown that baiting time influences the intensity and pattern of termite attacks. Therefore, the present research aimed to study the preferences of subterranean termites and find the ideal baiting time among community wood species from Bogor, West Java, as a baiting alternative to pine. The woods tested were Acacia mangium (acacia), Falcataria moluccana (sengon), Anthocephalus cadamba (jabon), Maesopsis eminii (manii), Swietenia mahagoni (mahogany), Hevea brasiliensis (rubberwood), and P. merkusii (pine). Field tests were carried out based on the American Society for Testing and Materials D 1758-06 at the Arboretum, Faculty of Forestry and Environment, IPB University, with a baiting time of one to six months. The results led to the identification of four species of termites, namely Microtermes sp., Macrotermes sp., Shedorhinotermes sp., and Capritermes sp.. The frequency of termite attacks on the test site reached 93.1%. Rubberwood was the most potential wood bait for subterranean termites, indicated by the highest average weight loss value (65.8%) with a shorter optimal baiting time (up to one month) than that of other tested woods.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.129-136
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• 2018

Termites are important sub-baits of natural ecosystems and are beneficial insects that are natural decomposer. However, the building materials used by human beings can not coexist with each other on timber which is a termite food. As of 2017, due to fertile forests, warming, and the spread of boilers, termite damage to timber construction is increasingly occurring day by day. Currently, Korea utilizes fumigation, Beit system, preserved wood, etc. of chemical products as termite control measures. But in the case of control measures, timber that has already been eaten by termites can not serve as a structural material and must be repaired. On the other hand, in the case of overseas, Scale of damage to termites the influence on the construction is also large, and a lot of research has been carried out on the prevention methods. In this thesis, investigate such foreign control measures, Would like to suggest a suitable method for Korea.

• 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.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.62 no.3
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• pp.171-182
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• 2023

In the Republic of Korea, many of the wooden architectural heritage are located in forests and, therefore, are vulnerable to termite damage. In Korea, the predominant approach to termite control involves chemical control methods using termiticides. The rapid attraction of termites to termiticides is essential to shorten the control period. The current study investigated the attraction of Korean termites to carbon dioxide and the appropriate concentration of carbon dioxide required for effective attraction by conducting a basic experiment on the attracting effect in the underground environment. The results showed that carbon dioxide is effective for attracting termites, and an effective concentration range of 10% or less was selected. Additionally, this study established the potential and applicability of carbon dioxide as an attractant in the control of subterranean termites. Future studies should aim at conducting field studies on the application of carbon dioxide to improve the termite control effect, particularly in preserving wooden architectural heritage.

• 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 the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.1 s.129
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• pp.1-6
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• 2005

This research was performed to investigate the expression patterns of odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) migrating hydrophobic semiochemicals such as pheromone to the olfactory receptors in a termite (Reticulitermes speratus). Antennas and legs were cut from soldier and worker termites, respectively, and RT-PCR were conducted to investigate the existence of the OBPs reported up to now. Blast search suggested that the OBPs obtained were highly homologues of the OBPs reported. In worker termites, OBP-1 was expressed in both antennas and legs, OBP-2 and OBP-3 were observed only in antennas. And in soldier termites, OBP-1 was shown in both antennas and legs, OBP-2 were not observed, and OBP-3 was found in both antennas and legs. The differences of expression patterns of OBPs between worker and soldier termites may be explained by their specialized peculiarity.

• Mycobiology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.501-511
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• 2020

Xylophagous termites are capable of degrading lignocellulose by symbiotic gut microorganisms along with the host's indigenous enzymes. Therefore, the termite gut might be a potential niche to obtain natural yeasts with celluloytic, xylanolytic and ethanologenic traits required for bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, we cultured 79 yeasts from three different termites viz. Coptotermes heimi, Odontotermes javanicus and Odontotermes obesus. After suitable screening methods, we identified 53 yeasts, which belonged to 10 genera and 16 different species of both ascomycetous and basidiomycetous yeasts. Most yeasts in the present study represent their first-ever isolation from the termite gut. Representative strains of identified yeasts were evaluated for their cellulolytic, xylanolytic, and ethanologenic abilities. None of the isolates showed cellulase activity; 22 showed xylanolytic activity, while six produced substantial quantities of ethanol. Among xylanolytic cultures, Pseudozyma hubeiensis STAG 1.7 and Hannaella pagnoccae STAG 1.14 produced 1.31 and 1.17 IU of xylanase. Among ethanologenic yeasts, the strains belonging to genera Candida and Kodamaea produced high amount of ethanol. Overall, highest ethanol level of 4.42 g/L was produced by Candida tropicalis TS32 using 1% glucose, which increased up to 22.92 g/L at 35 ℃, pH 4.5 with 5% glucose. Fermentation of rice straw hydrolysate gave 8.95 g/l of ethanol with a yield of 0.42 g/g using the strain TS32. Our study highlights the gut of wood-feeding termites as a potential source of diverse yeasts that would be useful in the production of xylanase and bioethanol.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.371-380
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• 2019

Termites are pests that cause serious economic and cultural damage by digesting wood cellulose. Termites are arthropods and have an epidermis surrounded by a chitin layer. To maintain a healthy epidermis, termites have chitinase (${\beta}$-1,4-poly-N-acetyl glucosamidinase, EC 3.2.1.14), an enzyme that hydrolyzes the ${\beta}$-1,4 bond of chitin. In this study, the amino acid sequence of the gene, which is presumed to be termite chitinolytic enzyme (NCBI accession no. KC477099), was obtained from a transcriptomic analysis of Reticulitermes speratus KMT001 in Bukhan Mountain, Korea. An NCBI protein BLAST search confirmed that the protein is a glycoside hydrolase family 18 (GH18). The highest homology value found was 47%, with a chitinase from Araneus ventricosus. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the KC477099 protein has the same origins as those of arthropods but has a very low similarity with other arthropod chitinases, resulting in separation at an early stage of evolution. The KC477099 protein contains two conserved motifs, which encode the general enzymatic characteristics of the GH18 group. The amino acid sequences $Asp^{156}-Trp^{157}-Glu^{158}$, which play an important role in the enzymatic activity of the GH18 group, were also present. This study suggests that the termite KC477099 protein is a new type of chitinase, which is evolutionarily distant from other insect chitinases.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.227-235
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• 2019

In Korea, various methods are applied to prevent wooden structures from being damaged by termites. However, since there is no way to quickly bring toxic substances in contact with the termites inside the timber, it leads to the damage of wooden cultural property due to the prolonged period of controlling the termites. Accordingly, an indoor evaluation criteria study was conducted for the introduction of powder-type termiticides in Korea, which produced rapid control effects by drilling wood and directly contacting and transferring toxic substances inside the timber. First, contact toxicity and transfer ability of termite dusts were evaluated to establish the criteria for evaluation of effectiveness against Reticulitermes speratus. The contact toxicity confirmed 100% mortality of fipronil, deltamethrin and cyfluthrin termite dusts within 24 h of contact; however, differences occurred in the active ingredient transfer time to the sublethal. In addition, in the case of transfer ability evaluation, the rate of mortality gradually decreased under 1:9 and 1:25 ratio conditions; however, the difference in the reduction rate was identified depending on the type of termite dust. the results of the evaluation of compressive strength of the wood showed that the difference in the measured values between the control group and the conditions of perforation 1 to 3 times, which does not significantly affect the compressive strength of wood. In this study, the criteria of termite dust selection and evaluation method of dust-type termiticides were presented and the applicability of the method was identified.