Vertical distribution of termites in a Panamanian rainforest

2005

Despite the well known diversity of termites capable of inhabiting arboreal environments, the determinants of tree exploitation by termites remain largely unknown. Data collected on trees exploited by termites in Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, a hot spot of diversity, reveals that whereas termite presence on trees is positively related simply to tree size, termite activity within arboreal tunnels depends on tree size and growth form. This leads us to hypothesize that termites find large trees randomly but keep higher activity in large trees due to the availability of food and arboreal nesting sites.

2011

RESUMEN A través de sus actividades como “ingenieros de los ecosistemas”, las termitas proveen una variedad de servicios ecológicos incluyendo la contribución al ciclo del carbono y del nitrógeno y la descomposición de madera muerta. Aunque la diversidad de termitas varía entre regiones debido a la variación del tamaño del banco de especies regional, en general, se cree que ésta declina con la altitud.

Sociobiology, 2014

Termites exhibit several characteristics that emphasize their potential as bioindicators of habitat quality for use in environmental monitoring studies, but little is known about this group in vegetations of semi-arid regions of Brazil. The present study was conducted in three areas of Caatinga under different levels of anthropogenic disturbance, in the High Backwoods of Sergipe State, aiming to verify whether termite communities create different groups associated with the conservation of the area, by analyzing richness, abundance, and composition. Twelve transects of 65 x 2 m were set up in each area, where each one consisted of five plots of 5 x 2 m, making it possible to collect termites in all potential nesting and foraging sites. Five feeding groups of termites were sampled: (WF) wood-feeders, (SF) soil-feeders, (SWF) soil/wood interface-feeders, (LF) litter-foragers, and (SPF) specialized-feeders. Soil samples were collected from each plot in order to measure the environmental variables particle size, moisture percentage, and soil pH. Overall, richness and abundance were significantly different in the three studied areas. Wood-feeders were the most dominant in number of species and number of encounters collected at all sites, whereas the composition of termites in each area, given the environmental disturbances, was distinct. The environmental variables reinforced that the areas are different in terms of degree of conservation. The agreement between environmental variables and ecological data for species composition fortifies the potential of termites as biological indicators of habitat quality in areas of Caatinga of Northeastern Brazil.

Termites are an abundant and diverse group in the Neotropics with about 500 species representing 83 genera. The paucity of the termite fauna recorded from Ecuador is due, in part, to a lack of deliberate surveys. We revise the termite fauna of Ecuador and raise the number of species from 25 species to 72 based on our recent termite surveys. Of the 72 species, 18 could not be conclusively identifi ed and are likely new species. Given the limited area that has been covered in surveys of the Ecuadorian termite fauna, there are undoubtedly many more species to be recorded for Ecuador, primarily in the eastern lowland areas, cloud forests on both the eastern and western slopes of the Andes, and the Amazonian lowland forests.

Ecological Entomology 36, 261-269, 2011

Canadian Journal of Zoology, 2008

We test predictions of the Morton and James hypothesis, which states that high termite diversity promotes high lizard diversity. We explore consumption of termites by lizards in the Brazilian Cerrado, a system that shares many similarites with arid Australia whose fauna formed the basis for the original hypothesis. We found that Cerrado lizards prey heavily on termites. Several species had >40% of their diet consisting of termites, some species reached up to 80%. However, lizards prey on termites independently of their diversity in the environment and do not show niche segregation in relation to termite resource. Hence, our results in the Cerrado do not support the hypothesis that termite diversity can promote lizard diversity. The diets of Cerrado lizards have a high proportion of termites; however, the diets of desert lizards from the Australian and the Kalahari deserts have a much higher proportion of termites when compared with those from the Cerrado and the Amazon. Differences in termite consumption by lizards across ecosystems do not seem to be related to local termite diversity. We hypothesize that overall prey availability can explain this pattern. Several arthropod groups are abundant in the Cerrado and the Amazon. In deserts, other prey types may be less abundant; therefore, termites may be the best available resource.

Biotropica, 2016

The Brazilian Cerrado harbors great floristic and structural diversity composed of a mosaic of natural vegetation types and anthropogenic environments such as introduced pastures. Here, our goal was to evaluate the patterns of taxonomic and functional diversity of dung beetles in a human-modified landscape in Brazilian Cerrado. For this, we evaluated the species richness, species composition and abundance (non-weighted by abundance) and species diversity (Shannon index-weighted by abundance) and three functional indexes (functional richness, functional evenness and functional dispersion). We collected the insects in fragments of Cerrado (Cerrado stricto sensu), riparian forests under pressure of timber removal and livestock and exotic pastures (Urochloa spp.) in Anastácio and Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. We used pitfall traps baited with human feces and fresh capybara dung, a large native rodent, as a representative of the mammal regional fauna. Dung beetle richness was higher in Cerrado fragments, while the abundance was higher in exotic pastures and riparian forests. Species composition differed among vegetation types. Finally, the species diversity and functional diversity did not differ among vegetation types. Thus, we demonstrated the information generated by conceptually similar indexes (e.g. functional richness, species richness and species diversity) may not provide similar information on dung beetles responses to disturbance due to differences in the weighting on species abundance. Finally, the use of taxonomic and functional metrics generate complementary information that can helps us to reach more efficient conclusions in terms of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functionality in human-modified variegated landscape.

Austral Ecology, 2004

Termites are major decomposers in tropical ecosystems. To characterize their assemblages in terms of taxonomical and functional composition, Jones and Eggleton (2000, Journal of Applied Ecology 37, 191-203) recently proposed a standardized sampling protocol based on belt transects of 100 m ϫ 2 m. We evaluated the representativeness of samples obtained by this protocol, and its suitability to calculate diversity statistics, by replicating it in an area of naturally fragmented subtropical forest. We sampled six 100 m transects in separate small forest islets, and one transect extended to 500 m in a large islet, recording presence/absence data (occurrences) of termite species in successive quadrats of 5 m ϫ 2 m. In the large islet, strips of 100 m within the 500 m transect produced extremely variable species richness figures. This variability was primarily due to heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of soildwelling termites. Combining non-contiguous quadrats allowed us to span a broader diversity of microhabitats for an equal effort, providing less variable results and faster species accumulation. Individual transects of 100 m in small forest islets yielded too few samples to allow reliable estimations of total species richness, although these transects when pooled constituted a useful data set for comparison with other sites. In the focal habitat, a single 100 m transect appeared therefore inadequate to allow a reliable characterization of the termite assemblage, even at the level of a single forest islet. To improve the rate of species accumulation and to obtain diversity statistics allowing intersite comparisons, we suggest the use of smaller, non-contiguous quadrats, and that sampling be continued until stable diversity estimates are obtained. In the habitat studied, such an alternative protocol could be adequately combined with a standardized protocol for collecting ground-dwelling ants.

Sociobiology, 2013

European Journal of Entomology, 2005