termites

Termites never sleep. They eat wood 24 hours a day and cause several billion dollars in structural damage every year.

Drywood termites which live in the dry wood of buildings where they feed;

Subterranean termites which live in the soil and must locate wood that they feed on; and

Dampwood termites which may be found in either soil or wood-if enough moisture is present in the wood of a structure they then do not need to return to the soil.

See:

Forest Products Society - conference and meeting abstracts

Abstracts of many wood related conferences is available in .pdf, in the Conference section.

general description, Southern U.S.

Termites from hell, by Lemonick, M.D, 1998

termite degratation of wood

Wood durability issues on the long-term performance of wood in service, by Quarles, S. L. and Tully, D.F, 0