Measuring wood consumption by subterranean termites (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) with digitized images

A method is described in which consumption by termites of a feeding block composed of 36 thin (2-mm) wooden slats is estimated with a video image analysis. The significant regression between dry wood weight loss and decreased pixel count of digitized images demonstrates that the video image technique may be a useful tool to quantify termite feeding. Time required to measure wood consumption with the video image technique (approximately 11.5 min per sample) was significantly less than that for the manual method of washing, and weighing wooden blocks damaged by termite feeding (approximately 21.0 min per sample).