Ethyl Formate-Based Quarantine Treatment for Exotic Ants and Termites in Imported Rubber Plants and Stone Products

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The reviewed paper concerns ethyl formate-based quarantine treatment for exotic ants and termites in imported rubber plants and stone products. The problem described in the paper is interesting and it is good that the authors have undertaken such research.

My comments

1. The introduction is too short. Please provide more information.
2. Lack of purpose of work. Please explain why the authors undertook such research.
3. There is no novelty given.
4. Lack of statistical methods.
5. Why was the chlorophyll content determined by SPAD-502?
6. The results are described correctly, but there is no discussion with the works of other authors.
7. Lack of conclusions.
8. In the work, the authors cite only 20 literature items, 10 of which are from the last 5 years. Please provide more items.

Author Response

June 7, 2022

Dear Reviewers

We thank you and two reviewers for useful comments in helping us improve the quality and clarity of a revised version of our ms. # applsci-1740145 entitled "Ethyl Formate-based Quarantine Treatment for Exotic Ants and Termites in Imported Rubber Plants and Stone Products" that we are resubmitting for consideration for publication to the Applied Sciences. We incorporated all of reviewer’s suggestions in the revised manuscript and provide a point by point responses to the reviewer’s comments.

Sincerely yours,

Byung Ho Lee, Ph.D.

Research Professor

Kyungpook National University

Reviewer comment 1

1. The introduction is too short. Please provide more information.

        --> We added more information and clarified the rationale of this study.

2. Lack of purpose of work. Please explain why the authors undertook such research.

       --> We clarified the rationale of this study.

3. There is no novelty given.

      --> We clarified why this study is necessary.

4. Lack of statistical methods.

     --> We added statistical analysis section in the methods.

5. Why was the chlorophyll content determined by SPAD-502?

     --> We added references that used the chlorophyll meter to determine leaf chlorophyll content.

6. The results are described correctly, but there is no discussion with the works of other authors.

     --> We expanded discussion section by adding a new discussion paragraph.

7. Lack of conclusions.

     --> We added a separate conclusion section.

8. In the work, the authors cite only 20 literature items, 10 of which are from the last 5 years. Please provide more items.

    --> We added additional older references.

Reviewer 2 Report

The article entitled "Ethyl Formate-based Quarantine Treatment for Exotic Ants and Termites in Imported Rubber Plants and Stone Products" is a good work which is scientifically sound and written in a good way. However, I have some queries and suggestions as appended below;

1. "Although the incidence is still relatively limited, the major concern has been the presence of Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), red imported fire ant, among the intercepted exotic ants and termites" rephrase the sentence

2. A similar study has been previously published (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aspen.2019.06.013); hence, I recommend to include and emphasize the novelty of this study in the introduction. Though authors have cited this work, they have not elaborated the significance

3. In the material and methods; there is no section containing statistical analysis details. why the authors analyzed the data for statistical significance. I recommend to include the details during revision.

4. In figure 2, correction in the unit (gram per cubic meter) is to be done

5. none of the tables have statistical analysis symbols and the authors need to do the comparison to show whether there is any significant difference is there or not

6. A separate conclusion session is highly recommended

Author Response

June 7, 2022

Dear Reviewers

We thank you and two reviewers for useful comments in helping us improve the quality and clarity of a revised version of our ms. # applsci-1740145 entitled "Ethyl Formate-based Quarantine Treatment for Exotic Ants and Termites in Imported Rubber Plants and Stone Products" that we are resubmitting for consideration for publication to the Applied Sciences. We incorporated all of reviewer’s suggestions in the revised manuscript and provide a point by point responses to the reviewer’s comments.

Sincerely yours,

Byung Ho Lee, Ph.D.

Research Professor

Kyungpook National University

Reviewer comment 2

The article entitled "Ethyl Formate-based Quarantine Treatment for Exotic Ants and Termites in Imported Rubber Plants and Stone Products" is a good work which is scientifically sound and written in a good way. However, I have some queries and suggestions as appended below;

1. "Although the incidence is still relatively limited, the major concern has been the presence of Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), red imported fire ant, among the intercepted exotic ants and termites" rephrase the sentence

       --> We rephrased the sentence.

2. A similar study has been previously published (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aspen.2019.06.013); hence, I recommend to include and emphasize the novelty of this study in the introduction. Though authors have cited this work, they have not elaborated the significance

         --> Thanks for the suggestion. We clarified the rationale of this study in the introduction.

3. In the material and methods; there is no section containing statistical analysis details. why the authors analyzed the data for statistical significance. I recommend to include the details during revision.

        --> We added statistics to the data table and added statistical analysis details to the methods section.

4. In figure 2, correction in the unit (gram per cubic meter) is to be done

      --> Thank you. We corrected the unit as suggested.

5. none of the tables have statistical analysis symbols and the authors need to do the comparison to show whether there is any significant difference is there or not

        --> We added statistics to the Table 2 (all comparisons are not significant). Table 1 and Table 3 are to show Ct products and 100% mortality from each fumigation trial and do not require statistics.

6. A separate conclusion session is highly recommended

    --> We added a separate conclusion section in the revised manuscript.

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

All my comments have been taken into account. In my opinion, the work should be printed.

Reviewer 2 Report

The authors have improved the manuscript significantly and the manuscript is acceptable in the present form.