Termites in East Africa IV - Termites and buildings

Abstract

According to their particular mode or life, termites fall into the following three distinct groups:- I. Mound-building or ground-nesting termites who construct protective runways of earth leading from their nest to supplies of cellulose, including the timber of buildings. This cellulose is used to make fungus gardens in the nest to provide the food supply for the colony. In this group there are no subsidiary or colonial nurseries away from the main nest and nearer to temporary food supplies. All movement away from the nest is for the purpose of foraging, and on the outward journeys earth is often taken from excavations in the soil and dumped in cavities in attacked timber.