To estimate bacterial abundance after antimicrobial treatment,
twenty-five whole termite guts from each treatment were
dissected, pooled, and homogenized in 750 mL of sodium phosphate
buffer (0.05 M, pH 7.0). Of this homogenate, 100 mL was used for
serial dilutions which were plated in sextuplicate onto brain heart
infusion agar and incubated at 37 C either aerobically or anaerobically
to determine the number of colony forming units (CFU) per
treatment. Anaerobic conditions were made using a glass containing
one BD GasPak EZ Anaerobe System with Indicator sealed
with modeling clay (Franklin Lakes, NJ). Raw CFU counts were
Log10 transformed prior to data analysis.