Keanekaragaman Rayap Tanah di Hutan Pendidikan Gunung Walat, Sukabumi.

Abstract

Termites are social insects are included in the order blatodea. Termites are easily encountered in the lowland tropics and this is due to the spread of termite activity is influenced by temperature and precipitation. Termites are many benefits to the ecosystem of the earth, as makrofauna ground termites have a role in the manufacture of passageways in the soil and cause soil to be loose, so good for plant growth (Sigit & Hadi 2006), termites have a role in helping people as a way to destroy wood decomposers or other organic material and return the nutrients to the soil (Nandika et al. 2003). Most of the people thought that termites are destructive insects, it is not out of the activities of termites that cause damage to crops, properties, and damage to buildings made of wood to the detriment of the economy. Which is polymorphic termites live in colonies that have a caste system. Each caste has a different body morphology. Soldier caste has a distinctive form of the mandible. Termites can be identified by observing the size of the head and mandibel of the warrior caste. This study aims to determine the diversity of termites in the area of Mount Forest Education Walat Sukabumi West Java. Termites are found preserved into the film canister containing 70% alcohol. Based on the results of the study of termites from five locations: on the stand agathis, pine, puspa, agroforestry and mess around. The study was conducted in December 2011 to February 2012. Sampling occurs in HPGW Sukabumi, West Java. Specimen measurement, data analysis and image retrieval conducted at the Teknologi Pemanfaatan Mutu Kayu (TPMK) Department of Forest Products, Faculty of Forestry, Bogor Agricultural University. The results of this study indicate that Schedorhinotermes is a genus of Rhinotermitidae family members are most often found, of twenty-six samples obtained thirteen species of termites of whom are members of the genus Schedorhinotermes. Thirteen samples were from termite genus Macrotermes, Odontotermes, Pericapritermes and Nasutitermes. Has six species of the genus Macrotermes, Odontotermes has five species, genus Nasutitermes, Pericapritermes and each amounted to one example. Genus Macrotermes and Odontotermes is the most common genus and has a widespread distribution in almost all locations. Pericapritermes and Nasutitermes is the least genus is found only in one location. Observation needs to be done outside of the five locations that have been made to cover the entire area HPGW. Termite observation needs to be done at various seasons to obtain the completeness of data in different seasons.