In the past, the crossing of small numbers of white termites has been causing a coincidence once every million years across a separate island or a swimming tree, but now this may happen every year.
I mentioned A recent study It was published in the magazine “Insent Sains” that the termites are difficult to spread in natural ways, but that spread is done by humans who transmit invasive devices from termites inadvertently on ships and modern boats to all parts of the world, meaning that humans inadvertently help ants to “invade the world.”
In a statement to Al -Jazeera Net via e -mail, Nan Yao Soo, a professor of insectology at the Fort Lauderdale Center at the University of Florida, says that “man has helped spread termites all over the world for a long time.”
Historical evidence
Yao Soo adds that, for example, the empty white termites and their original homeland were introduced to Nagasaki in the early 17th century, and this was probably done by intrusions of ants on Chinese ships that were in trade with Japan.
Yao Soo says that at that time Nagazaki was the only port open to China for trade, and this type of ant in Hawaii was found in the late 19th century, and he probably moved through the sandalwood trade.
The ants also moved to the marine ship building in New Orleans after the Second World War, and Yao Soo adds, “We have seen many special yachts attached to the white termites anchored in Fort Lauderdale, and these yachts contributed to the spread of the hybrid white termites by the actions of man in the seventies of the twentieth century, and the Asian white termites in the nineties of the same century.”
Yao Soo adds that he estimated the annual cost of termites damage at about $ 40 billion, based on the 2010 pesticide sales numbers.
Ant
Yao Soo says that due to the absence of a quarantine on every ship that enters the ports, there is no effective way to prevent spread, and even if we apply the quarantine there is no effective and economic way to examine and detect termites injuries in any ship, and if we find an infected ship, the fumigation will eliminate the termites, but it is expensive as well.
According to the study, private boats and entertainment boats are the best way to spread termites across the world, and the study used to reach these results a mixture of field surveys, genetic analysis and historical data.
Once the infection stabilizes in a boat, it can spread easily to the beach, and termites that are often carried in hidden colonies on boats can spread to other coastal areas, especially when the bird’s termites are attracted to the city lights.
Once the colonies settled on land and reach the stage of maturity, they produce winged individuals with the ability to fly, spread on short distances and establish new colonies in favorable nesting sites in boats and other civilizational areas.
South Florida is known as the capital of yachts in the world, and over the contracts many types of gas termites have settled in this region where the numbers of boats abound, and as soon as the boat is injured, these types of termites can move to another state or anywhere around the world.
The study confirms that as soon as the white termites create a colony in a new area, this colony often remains without discovering for years, as its slow reproduction cycle and its mysterious biological characteristics make the damage spread calmly until it becomes grave, which makes the efforts to eliminate these colonies difficult, and often very late.
Although most termites live in their original homeland and cannot grow in urban environments, the species responsible for most damage such as the Taiwanese and Asian -Asian termites and dry wood ants in western India have adapted to urban climates.
Human role
In a statement to Al -Jazeera Net, Dr. Reda Abdel Monsef Ahmed, Professor and Head of the Department of Insects at Kafr El -Sheikh University, says that humans can play a major role in transporting termites by transporting goods and contaminated materials from one region to another, and also using containers and wooden boxes contaminated with it, and by transporting the plants and soil contaminated with it.
He adds that termites can cause significant economic damage in the agricultural sector, as it attacks crops and agricultural products, which leads to great losses in production.
It also causes damage to the infrastructure, as it attacks wooden structures and buildings, which leads to their deterioration and increased maintenance costs and causes commercial problems, as its transfer to new areas imposes restrictions on trade and increases control costs.
In a statement to Al -Jazeera Net, Dr. Karim Mohamed Moussa, assistant professor of insectology at Kafr El -Sheikh University and a visiting researcher at the Japanese University of Kyushu, says that the white termites are a social insect that mainly feeds on decomposing plant materials, and it has an important pivotal role in recycling nutrients and analyzing organic materials within environmental systems.
However, its uncontrolled prevalence – which is often facilitated through urban expansion, marine transport and agricultural practices – poses a major threat to infrastructure and biological diversity.
Human activities contributed to accelerating the spread of these insects across multiple regions around the world, as human beings are not just secondary shareholders, but rather the decisive factor in accelerating the spread of termites through various human activities.
Expert advice
Moussa adds that in addition to the global spread of termites, it also has a presence in the Arab region, and Sudan is considered one of the most affected Arab countries, and there were injuries in homes, stores and public facilities, especially in the desert rural areas, and the destruction of grain stores and homes built from clay in states such as Kordofan and Darfur was reported.
Likewise, the presence of several types of termites in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the southern regions such as Jizan and Abha, and Al -Wusta, such as Al -Qassim and Riyadh, were documented.
To reduce the transmission of termites through boats and ships, Abdel -Monsef says, “The goods and transported materials must be examined and the use of safe transport containers, the application of international standards for examining and inspecting the goods and materials that are transported, and training workers in the field of transport and trade on how to identify and deal with white termites.”
Besides, Abdel -Monsef recommends the use of pesticides, and by applying these procedures, it is possible to reduce the transmission of termites through boats and ships and reduce the economic damage it causes.