Food encounter rates of simulated termite tunnels with variable food size/distribution pattern and tunnel branch length

Subterranean termites excavate tunnels in a search pattern to encounter food in soil. To investigate the effect of food size, food distribution and the branch length of tunnels on food encounter rate we used a lattice gas model to simulate tunnels of the Formosan subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki. The model made use of minimized local rules derived from empirical data to simulate termite tunnel patterns in featureless soil. Food distributions with three types (uniform, random, and clumped) were defined by using an I-index proposed by Zimmer and Johnson (1985). The food encounter rate was higher in a clumped than in non-clumped (uniform and random) distribution of food particles. When food particle size was varied in random distributions of food particles a maximum encounter rate was found, with particles of larger or smaller size being encountered less frequently. We also discussed the relationship between the branch tunnel length and the tunnel search pattern in minimizing the redundancy of overlapping branches. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.