Termite Information Guide
Australia is considered the world’s largest island mass, being more than double the size of Europe at 7,706,168 sq kms, compared to Europe’s 3,483,066 sq kms.
Being such a large continent spanning a great distance, we experience its climate being ‘tropical’ in the far north, to temperate ‘continental’ as one travels further south from the equator.
The South-East Queensland is a region located on the Eastern Seaboard of Australia, and is considered a sub-tropical climate (located 1000 kilometres south of the Tropic of Capricorn). South-East Queensland is also considered one of the most prolific termite (also known as white ant) activity areas in the world.
WHAT ARE TERMITES
Though termites are not directly dangerous to humans, termites are small ants that vary in species, and are known to eat timber as a source of food. This is considered potentially destructive when the timbers are located within a residential dwelling, which could be considered to pose a safety concern due to structural issues. These timbers when ingested by worker termites then convert the timbers to Cellulose, a sugar that they then feed directly to the termite colony queen when they return home to their nest.
Their attacks are sometimes known to cause great distress within populated regions. This is due to variables such as; type of species, human demographics, local building practices (previous and present), compliance standards (past and present), and the onset of global warming. 1
Another reason why termites are considered destructive is that they are also known to avoid sunlight and travel via an underground network of tunnelways and mud workings. So, if an internal dwelling attack takes place, attacks will sometimes remain unnoticed until perhaps considerable amount property damage has occurred.
In recent times, research by the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific Institute Research office), a government sponsored scientific research department in Australia, revealed in their findings(2), that in fact subterranean termite activity within properties in South-East Queensland has increased from one-in-four properties, to one-in-three.
This is an alarming statistic, though rest assured there is also ways to decrease risk of attack on a property with our Industry Expert Termite Prevention Guide titled “How to Stop Termites from Eating your Home” written by our termite industry expert, Dave Maddison.
- http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/termites-and-climate-change-here-there-and-everywhere retrieved Feb 29th 2016.
- Cookson, L.J.; Trajstman, A.C, CSIRO. “Technical Report 137”. CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products, 2002