The impact of termites on soil sheeting properties is better explained by environmental factors than by their feeding and building strategies

Jouquet, P and Harit, A and Hervé, V and Moger, H and Carrijo, T and Donoso, DA and Eldridge, D and Ferreira da Cunha, H and Choosai, C and Janeau, J-L and Maeght, J-L and Thu, TD and Briandon, A and Skali, MD and van Thuyne, J and Mainga, A and Pinzon Florian, OP and Issa, OM and Podwojewski, P and Rajot, J-L and Henri-des-Tureaux, T and Smaili, L and Labiadh, M and Boukbida, HA and Shanbhag, R and Muon, R and Ann, V and Cheik, S and Fall, S and Traoré, S and Dupont, S and Chouvenc, T and Mullins, AJ and Syaukani, S and Zaiss, R and Tien, TM and Šobotník, J and Auclerc, A and Qiu, R and Tang, Y-T and Huot, H and Sillam-Dussès, D and Bottinelli, N (2022) The impact of termites on soil sheeting properties is better explained by environmental factors than by their feeding and building strategies. In: Geoderma, 412 .

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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. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Geoderma
Publisher:	Elsevier B.V.
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to Elsevier B.V.
Keywords:	Aggregates; Chemical stability; Ecosystems; Electric conductivity; Feeding; Particle size; Particle size analysis, Biostructures; Bioturbation; C contents; Ecosystem engineer; Environmental factors; Feeding guilds; Fungus-growing termites; Property; Structural stabilities; Tropical ecosystems, Soils, building; environmental factor; precipitation (chemistry); soil aggregate; soil fauna; soil property; termite
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Civil Engineering
Date Deposited:	08 Feb 2022 10:24
Last Modified:	08 Feb 2022 10:24
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/71224

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