The importance of termites (Isoptera) for the recycling of herbivore dung in tropical ecosystems: a review

By Bernd P. Freymann, R. Buitenwerf, O. DeSouza, H. Olff. 2008

137 citations recorded by the source corpus.

While the key role of termites in the decomposition of litter in the tropics has been acknowledged for a long time, much less information exists on their importance in the recycling of dung of primary consumers, especially herbivores. A review of published studies shows that a diverse group of termites (at least 126 species) has been reported to feed on a wide range of mammalian dung (18 species). Predominantly, wood-feeding and polyphagous wood-litter feeding species were found to feed also frequently on dung. Moreover, we found that termites can quickly remove large amounts of mammalian dung, especially in the dry season, when on average about 1/3 of the dung deposited in a given habitat is removed by termites within one month (with the highest rates observed in savannas). No distinctive preference for mammalian dung over other organic food sources was observed for fungus-growing termites (Macrotermitinae), whereas the majority of the non-fungus growing taxa studied prefer dung over other food. As termites bring large quantities of dung below the soil surface, disturb and enrich soils with nutrients, dung feeding by termites appears to be a previously underestimated process important in the functioning of tropical ecosystems.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c8832ada614aa643d9435ff5acb8d7462fb56bbe

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. T. Larsen
2. Elizabeth S Nichols
3. S. Spector
4. G. Sileshi
5. S. Govorushko
6. M. Favila

In Genetics

1. G. Sileshi
2. S. Govorushko
3. T. Larsen

In Insect Science

1. S. Spector
2. G. Sileshi
3. S. Govorushko
4. T. Larsen
5. D. Navarrete
6. G. Halffter

Citations in the corpus

• Economic and ecological importance of termites: A global review (2018, background): “On average, termites in the tropics remove 33% of dung in a particular habitat within 1 month (Freymann et al. 2008).”
• Ecological functions and ecosystem services provided by Scarabaeinae dung beetles (2008, background): “Termite modified soil is often richer in nitrogen, organic carbon, and exchangeable cations than non-modified soil, but these impacts have not been clearly attributed to feeding on dung, rather than other detritus (Freymann et al., 2008).”
• Termite-induced heterogeneity in African savanna vegetation: mechanisms and patterns (2010, background): “nutrients rapidly (Freymann et al. 2008).”