The about 4,000 species of termites found worldwide are some of the most important detrivores in tropical and subtropical areas, recycling wood and dead leaf.

Their role in the ecosystem may be important, but their habit of consuming dead wood sometimes does great damage to buildings and other wooden structures.

Their habit of remaining concealed often results in their presence being undetected until the timbers are severely damaged and exhibit surface changes.

Now, researchers from CSIRO Entonology led by R.A. Inta, have found that termites can detect the composition of their wooden food without having to actually touch it, a discovery that could improve the control of wood feeding termites.

The researchers offered to wood consuming termites the choice of electing between normal wooden blocks and specially designed blocks made of wood and other materials.

The insects always preferred the most wood containing blocks even if they could not touch or see the other materials.

"The ability to differentiate between food sources is based on the vibrations of the food that the termites are eating, although the exact mechanism for this ability is yet to be explored." said Inta.

"Scientists have known for some time that termites are receptive to vibrations. But these results demonstrate that termites' methods of food assessment are much more sophisticated that previously thought. When offered a choice between blocks of their normal wooden food, and specially engineered blocks made of wood and other materials, they could tell when there was another material attached and always chose the blocks that contained the most wood." he said.

Future experiments will precisely determine termites' methods of assessing food quality by vibrations.

"If we understand how they use vibrations to assess their food, we might be able to exploit this to manipulate their feeding habits, and address the very significant problem of termite damage in buildings and other structures," added Inta.