A Growing Baton Rouge Means More Termites

摘要

The population of East Baton Rouge Parish has jumped from 412,852 in 2000 to 445,227 in 2013, and downtown is booming with new construction and more entertainment events. But as the city grows, so do some problems; a hidden one is the growing population of the invasive subterranean termite, the Formosan subterranean termite, or Coptotermes formo-sanus. Of the six species of subterranean termites considered economically important in the U.S., Formosan termites are the most destructive, especially in Louisiana. In New Orleans alone this termite causes more than $300 million in losses every year by feeding on houses, other wooden structures, electric and telephone poles and underground cables, railroad ties, and live trees. In addition, the termites are suspected of compromising the floodwalls and levees in New Orleans with devastating results after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.