Termites Essay

Introduction: Termites also called white ants or wood bugs are descendants of wood cockroach like insects and a sister group with the cockroach genus “Cryptocercus”. Due to their diverse diet, social structures, and phenotypes, termites are important organisms for economic and ecological reasons such as contributing to the decomposition of dead vegetation and enriching the soil. However, its well-known ability to damage human structures and agricultural crops, continue to cause billions of dollars in damage every year. Their inhabitances of tropical and subtropical regions around the world have a strong influence on their habitat, modifying the topography, soil structural and chemical properties, and plant growth rates. Even though termites are not restricted to one region of the planet, they do not have any particular temperature range in which they survive or operate but they prefer an environment that is warm, dark, and full of moisture making them more prevalent in the warmer months. In the winter, termites are not dormant, but do experience a decrease in activity. Inclusively, they do not have the ability to generate their own body temperature changes in the environment which can affect their bodies directly. In the present …show more content…
Hypothesis: In cold temperatures, pertaining to those under 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the secondary productivity of termites will decrease compared to higher temperatures of 75 degrees and up which will show activity of secondary productivity in termite population over a period of time.

Variables: In this experiment, my dependent variables are the net and gross productivity of termites; independent variable is the range of different temperatures from 50 degrees Fahrenheit and under and 75 degrees Fahrenheit and above; controlled variables are the aquarium, soil, thermometer, room and