University of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center, 3205 College Avenue, Davie, FL 33314, USA.
J Econ Entomol. 2010 Aug;103(4):1338-46. doi: 10.1603/ec09428.
Marine vessels have been implicated in the anthropogenic dispersal of invasive termites for the past 500 yr. It has long been suspected that two invasive termites, the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, and Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann) (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae), were introduced to and dispersed throughout South Florida by sailboats and yachts. We compared the distances between 190 terrestrial point records for Formosan subterranean termite, 177 records for C. gestroi, and random locations with the nearest marine dockage by using spatial analysis. Results show that the median distance to nearest docks associated with C. gestroi is significantly smaller than for the random points. Results also reveal that the median distance to nearest docks associated with Formosan subterranean termite is significantly smaller than for the random points. These results support the hypothesis that C. gestroi and Formosan subterranean termite are significantly closer to potential infested boat locations, i.e., marine docks, than random points in these urban areas. The results of our study suggest yet another source of aggregation in the context of exotic species, namely, hubs for pleasure boating.
在过去的 500 年里，海洋船只一直被认为是人为传播入侵白蚁的原因。长期以来，人们一直怀疑两种入侵白蚁，即台湾乳白蚁 Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki 和 Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann)（等翅目：鼻白蚁科），是通过帆船和游艇引入并传播到南佛罗里达州的。我们通过空间分析比较了 190 个台湾乳白蚁的陆地点记录、177 个 C. gestroi 的记录和随机位置与最近的码头之间的距离。结果表明，与随机点相比，与 C. gestroi 相关的最近码头的中位数距离显著较小。结果还表明，与随机点相比，与台湾乳白蚁相关的最近码头的中位数距离显著较小。这些结果支持了以下假设，即 C. gestroi 和台湾乳白蚁与潜在受感染船只的位置（即海洋码头）比这些城市地区的随机点更接近，这是外来物种聚集的另一个来源。我们的研究结果表明，在外来物种的背景下，还有另一个聚集源，即游艇娱乐的枢纽。
