The impact of termites on soil sheeting properties is better explained by environmental factors than by their feeding and building strategies
Pascal Jouquet
(1)
,
Ajay Harit
(2)
,
Vincent Hervé
(3)
,
Hemanth Moger
(4)
,
Tiago Carrijo
(5)
,
David Donoso
(6)
,
David Eldridge
(7)
,
Hélida Ferreira da Cunha
(8)
,
Chutinan Choosai
(9)
,
Jean-Louis Janeau
(1)
,
Jean-Luc Maeght
(10)
,
Thuy Doan Thu
(11)
,
Alexia Briandon
(1)
,
Myriam Dahbi Skali
(1)
,
John van Thuyne
(12)
,
Ali Mainga
,
Olga Patricia Pinzon Florian
(13)
,
Oumarou Malam Issa
(1)
,
Pascal Podwojewski
(1)
,
Jean-Louis Rajot
(1)
,
Thierry Henri-Des-Tureaux
(1)
,
Lotfi Smaili
(1)
,
Mohamed Labiadh
(14)
,
Hanane Aroui Boukbida
(1)
,
Rashmi Shanbhag
,
Ratha Muon
(1)
,
Vannak Ann
(15)
,
Sougueh Cheik
(16)
,
Saliou Fall
(17)
,
Saran Traoré
(18)
,
Simon Dupont
(3)
,
Thomas Chouvenc
(19)
,
Aaron Mullins
(19)
,
Syaukani Syaukani
(20)
,
Rainer Zaiss
(1)
,
Tran Minh Tien
(11)
,
Jan Šobotník
(21)
,
Apolline Auclerc
(22)
,
Rongliang Qiu
(23)
,
Ye-Tao Tang
(23)
,
Hermine Huot
(23)
,
David Sillam-Dussès
(24)
,
Nicolas Bottinelli
(1)
1
iEES Paris -
Institut d'écologie et des sciences de l'environnement de Paris
2 School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam
3 IRBI - Institut de recherche sur la biologie de l'insecte UMR7261
4 Indian Institute of Science
5 UFABC - Universidade Federal do ABC = Federal University of ABC = Université Fédérale de l'ABC [Brazil]
6 EPN - Escuela Politécnica Nacional
7 UNSW - University of New South Wales [Canberra Campus]
8 UEG - Universidade Estadual de Goiás
9 KKU - Khon Kaen University [Thailand]
10 UMR AMAP - Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations
11 SFRI - Soils and Fertilizers Research Institute
12 UNIL - Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne
13 Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose de Caldas [Bogota]
14 IRA - Institut des Régions Arides
15 KHM - Institute of Technology of Cambodia [Cambodge]
16 CERD - Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche de Djibouti
17 ISRA - Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles [Dakar]
18 UJZK - Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo [Ouagadougou]
19 UF - University of Florida [Gainesville]
20 Universitas Syiah Kuala
21 CZU - Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
22 LSE - Laboratoire Sols et Environnement
23 SYSU - Sun Yat-Sen University [Guangzhou]
24 LEEC - Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée
2 School of Chemical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam
3 IRBI - Institut de recherche sur la biologie de l'insecte UMR7261
4 Indian Institute of Science
5 UFABC - Universidade Federal do ABC = Federal University of ABC = Université Fédérale de l'ABC [Brazil]
6 EPN - Escuela Politécnica Nacional
7 UNSW - University of New South Wales [Canberra Campus]
8 UEG - Universidade Estadual de Goiás
9 KKU - Khon Kaen University [Thailand]
10 UMR AMAP - Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations
11 SFRI - Soils and Fertilizers Research Institute
12 UNIL - Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne
13 Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose de Caldas [Bogota]
14 IRA - Institut des Régions Arides
15 KHM - Institute of Technology of Cambodia [Cambodge]
16 CERD - Centre d’Etudes et de Recherche de Djibouti
17 ISRA - Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles [Dakar]
18 UJZK - Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo [Ouagadougou]
19 UF - University of Florida [Gainesville]
20 Universitas Syiah Kuala
21 CZU - Czech University of Life Sciences Prague
22 LSE - Laboratoire Sols et Environnement
23 SYSU - Sun Yat-Sen University [Guangzhou]
24 LEEC - Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée
Vincent Hervé
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 1015261
- IdHAL : vincent-herve
- ORCID : 0000-0002-3495-561X
- IdRef : 180084577
David Eldridge
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 793389
- ORCID : 0000-0002-2191-486X
Ali Mainga
- Function : Author
Jean-Louis Rajot
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 758221
- ORCID : 0000-0002-3428-5636
- IdRef : 143784250
Rashmi Shanbhag
- Function : Author
Nicolas Bottinelli
- Function : Author
- PersonId : 760775
- ORCID : 0000-0003-4944-9696
- IdRef : 152346848
Abstract
Termites are key soil bioturbators in tropical ecosystems. Apart from mound nests constructed by some advanced lineages, most of the species use their faeces, oral secretions, debris, or soil aggregates to protect themselves from predators and desiccation when they go out to forage. Although this soil ‘sheeting’ is considered to play a key role in soil functioning, the properties of this termite-made material has been poorly studied. The few available data showed that sheeting properties are highly variable with positive, neutral or negative impacts on soil C and clay content, and consequently on soil aggregate stability. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the factors controlling the physical (particle size fractions and structural stability) and chemical (pH, electrical conductivity and carbon content) properties of soil sheeting produced by termite species encompassing all feeding and building categories using a dataset representative of an important diversity of biotopes coming from 21 countries from all continents colonized by termites. We showed that sheeting properties were explained by the properties of their environment, and especially by those of the bulk soil (linear relationships), followed in a lesser extent by the mean annual precipitation and biotope. Classic hypotheses related to termite feeding and building strategies were not hold by our analysis. However, the distinction of termites into fungus-growing and non-fungus growing species was useful when differentiating the impact of termites on soil electrical conductivity, C content, and structural stability. The large variability observed suggests the need to redefine termite functional groups based on their impacts on soil properties using a trait-based approach from morphological, anatomical and/or physiological traits.