Dear All,
Owing to popular request (or pressure) from Station Members, this Station has carried out research on the insidious insect of Termite, which seems to have been a horror among Property Management & Govt agencies in HK.
In reality, Termites are no horrible insects than any others like mosquitoes or houseflies. They have been around for millions of years & there are several hundred kinds of Termites in the world. Contrary to popular belief, Termites are not ants but closely related to cockroaches. In fact, ants are their enemy & Termites would build a mud covering to protect themselves from ant attack.
In a way, Termites are beneficial insects which chew & digest fallen wood, & turn them into compost for natural recycling. Termites are one of the very few insects on earth which can digest cellulose & are themselves part of the food chain in our ecology. Termites particularly like decayed wood with high moisture content. Live wood has alleleopathic chemicals in them & would normally fend off most kinds of Termites.
The most common kind of subterranean Termite found in HK is the Coptotermes formosanus, or more commonly known as the Formosan Termite which originated in Southern China. This Termite is now a nightmare in the USA & Australia where 95% of the houses are made with wood. Formosan Termites are highly secretive in their existence & they are powerful in their destruction. By the time discovery is made of them, the wooden structures are usually damaged beyond repair.
In tree production, Termites do not appear to be a major problem among tree nurseries which practice good hygiene. In the ISA Tree Farm of the undersigned in China where by now 20,000 trees are grown in 60 varieties, no Termite activity has been detected since operation 3 years ago. However, in some of the project sites of the undersigned where dead trees were retained as a Govt requirement by contract, Termite problem had been serious despite hard efforts of the pest control companies to eradicate them, simply because dead wood had to be retained on site for political reasons.
There is a very good commercial movie with sound giving an introduction to Termites as follows:
www.exterrathemovie.com/
This movie was made by a Termite product company with good description on their activities & control. Please note most commercial advertisement would not give unbiased view on the insect, but would rather emphasize on the harms that Termites would do for specific purposes. For better information still on this subject, consultation with entomologists are recommended, e.g. our universities & AFCD. Some overseas universities such as University of Florida & University of Massachusetts have carried out extensive research on Termites & information can also be sought from them.
Termites are not monsters & their existence is essential to our ecological balance. All we need to do is to learn how to live with them, & to turn them into friendly neighbours instead of deadly enemies.
best regards,
Sammy Au
Station Manager
Monday, July 9, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Sales of the Kindle Fire are going better than expected.
The Nexus S, however, has flash while some variants, such as the Samsung Vibrant
and Captivate, of the Samsung Galaxy S do not. Business travel become less an
adventure and more an experience, this a 7 inch tablet which you
can take it anywhere with you.
Here is my web blog: samsung galaxy tab
Sales of the Kindle Fire are going better than expected.
The Nexus S, however, has flash while some variants, such as the Samsung Vibrant and Captivate, of the Samsung Galaxy
S do not. Business travel become less an adventure and more an experience, this a 7 inch tablet which you can take it anywhere with
you.
Feel free to visit my web site: samsung galaxy tab
Impressive pages can now be created using interaction,
animation and video streaming. All five screens are fully customizable with widgets, shortcuts, apps, and photos.
If you already have a Google Gmail account, you can add that easily through
your Google account settings.
My webpage: nexus 7 tablet
On can buy these online as well as form the retail
stores as well. Both support tethering and have a GPS transceiver with
A-GPS. Then it was dragged by a string and the results are there in front of you.
Check out my web page: samsung galaxy s4
Simply click on the program that you want to watch and go
directly to the channel it's playing on. Loading time from screen to screen can vary and at times seems like it may take longer than usual but overall performance is great. Air - Play will also be coming quickly on Airplay-enabled speakers and stereo methods.
my web page roku
The unibody looks amazing and the rigid aluminum body is
better than any we have seen. The world of telephone communication have
improved a lot in so many years that it has become difficult to choose the right
kind of system. ll need to go to a short URL on the Mac
to download the desktop part of the installer, which means the Mac
and i - Pad must be on a single Wi-Fi network.
my webpage :: macbook air
A fast and practical netbook that may be for the more. 5 hour battery life you
aren't going to find anything that lasts longer on one charge and is still able to offer a full range of applications and net connectivity. Many years in the past the user had to write their programming code manually, using some cryptic codes.
Feel free to visit my web site: samsung chromebook
These cameras offer the features you wish your point and shoot
cameras had without the typical SLR camera price. There is an anti-reflective and water-repellant coating that will provide you with a clear and a surface that is smudge resistant and the screen
brightness can be adjusted in 7 steps in accordance with ambient
light. You should also consider what mode you are shooting in with this photography equipment.
Stop by my webpage - canon eos 70d
Post a Comment