Termite assemblages in dry tropical forests of Northeastern Brazil: Are termites bioindicators of environmental disturbances?

Viana‐Júnior, Arleu Barbosa; Reis, Yana Teixeira dos; Costa, Alysson M.; Souza, Vania Benicio

doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v61i3.324-331

Cited by 24 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(47 reference statements)

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“…However, Carrijo et al [112] noted that pasture implantation considerably reduces abundance and richness of intermediate and xylophagous groups, since lack of trees and bushes also means less wood as food; in this context, grass/litter feeders (the ones generalist and tolerant to disturbance) can proliferate (e.g., Procornitermes araujoi Emerson, 1952, Syntermes nanus Holmgren, 1909 and Ruptitermes sp.). Nevertheless, a direct response can be observed between local termite diversity and conservation of the area, so, depending on the study area, absence of a termite group compared to another could be used as bioindicator of environmental quality [111,113].…”

Section: Isopteramentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation

Menta

Remelli

2020

Insects

137

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The dramatic increase in soil degradation in the last few decades has led to the need to identify methods to define not only soil quality but also, in a holistic approach, soil health. In the past twenty years, indices based on living communities have been proposed alongside the already proven physical-chemical methods. Among them, some soil invertebrates have been included in monitoring programs as bioindicators of soil quality. Being an important portion of soil fauna, soil arthropods are involved in many soil processes such as organic matter decomposition and translocation, nutrient cycling, microflora activity regulation and bioturbation. Many studies have reported the use of soil arthropods to define soil quality; among taxa, some have been explored more in depth, typically Acari and Collembola, while generally less abundant groups, such as Palpigradi or Embioptera, have not been investigated much. This paper aims to evaluate and compare the use of different soil microarthropod taxa in soil degradation/quality studies to highlight which groups are the most reported for soil monitoring and which are the most sensitive to soil degradation. We have decided not to include the two most present and abundant taxa, Acari and Collembola, in this paper in consideration of the vast amount of existing literature and focus the discussion on the other microarthropod groups. We reported some studies for each taxon highlighting the use of the group as soil quality indicator. A brief section reporting some indices based on soil microarthropods is proposed at the end of this specific discussion. This paper can be considered as a reference point in the use of soil arthropods to estimate soil quality and health.

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Section: Isopteramentioning

confidence: 99%

Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation

Menta

Remelli

2020

Insects

137

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“…Of this 50%, invertebrates occupy 70% [24]. Indeed, a huge number of invertebrate species are being used as bioindicators including beetles [25,26,27,28], butterflies [28,29,30], ants [31,32,33] as well as termites [34]. Ants (Formicidae) have been used to monitor changes in various ecosystems such as grassland [33], mountains [35], rainforest [36], tropical forest [37], arboreal plantation such as mango [38], cocoa [39], teak [40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ants (Formicidae) have been used to monitor changes in various ecosystems such as grassland [33], mountains [35], rainforest [36], tropical forest [37], arboreal plantation such as mango [38], cocoa [39], teak [40]. Beside ants, termites are also candidate as ecosystem monitoring tool [34,41,42] and in specific cases both can be quite good bioindicators. Hence, they were used in our study, to check the effect of reforestation on the reconstitution of a representative fauna.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of Ants and Termites of the Botanical Garden of the University of Lomé, Togo

Kasseney

N’tie

Nuto

et al. 2019

Insects

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Ants and termites are used as bioindicators in many ecosystems. Little knowledge is available about them in Togo, especially ants. This study aimed to find out how ants and termites could be used to assess the restoration of former agricultural land. These insect groups were sampled within six transects of 50 x 2m2 (using pitfall traps, monoliths, baits for ants and hand sampling for termites) in two consecutive habitats: open area (grassland) and covered area (an artificial forest). Seventeen termite species and 43 ant species were collected. Seven ant species were specific to the covered area against four for the open area, while four unshared species of termite were found in the open area against three in the covered area. The presence of unshared species was linked to vegetation, as Trinervitermes (Holmgren, 1912), a grass feeding termite, was solely found in open area. Also, for some ant species like Cataulacus traegaordhi (Santschi, 1914), Crematogaster (Lund, 1831) species, Oecophylla longinoda (Latreille, 1802) and Tetraponera mocquerysi (Brown, 1960), all arboreal species, vegetation was a determining factor for their presence. The occurrence of these species together with Basidentitermes mactus (Sjöstedt, 1911), Strumigenys bernardi (Brown, 1960) and S. sistrura (Bolton, 1983), suggest a more advanced level of restoration of the covered area.

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“…To this day, colonies of P. seridoensis have been found mainly in arboreal nests of Constrictotermes cyphergaster Silvestri 1901 (Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae) (Lorenzon et al, 1999;Barreto & Castro, 2007;Fernandes, 2011;Miranda et al, 2015), despite the abundant occurrence of two other termite generawith the same nesting habit, Nasutitermes Dudley 1890 (Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae) and Microcerotermes Silvestri 1901 (Termitidae, Termitinae), in the Caatinga (Martius, 1999;Vasconcellos et al, 2010;Viana Junior et al, 2014). This fact suggests a tight relationship between P. seridoensis and C. cyphergaster.…”

Section: Short Notementioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunistic Occupation of Nests of Microcerotermes spp. Silvestri (Termitidae, Termitinae) by Partamona seridoensis Camargo & Pedro (Apidae, Meliponini) in the Brazilian Tropical Dry Forest

Oliveira¹,

Silva²,

Hrncir³

2016

Sociobiology

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Social bees make use of natural or animal-built structures to protect their colonies from environmental stressors. Here, particularly attractive shelters are active termite nests because they provide a stable climatic environment for inquilines. Several social bee species form obligatory associations with termites, among these the stingless bee Partamona seridoensis (Apidae, Meliponini), whose distribution is limited to the Tropical Dry Forest in the Brazilian Northeast. So far, colonies of this meliponine species have been found mainly in arboreal nests of the termite Constrictotermes cyphergaster, which suggests a tight relationship between these two social insect species. The present study was conducted in an area of the Tropical Dry Forest in the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Norte, where P. seridoensis naturally occurs albeit the absence of C. cyphergaster. We registered 14 colonies of P. seridoensis, all occupying active arboreal nests of termites of the genus Microcerotermes. The only other termites with arboreal nests present in the study area, Nasutitermes corniger, never housed P. seridoensis. This selective preference of the bees for Microcerotermes nests might be due to differences between termites concerning defense mechanisms or concerning thermal stability within the nests.

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Termite assemblages in dry tropical forests of Northeastern Brazil: Are termites bioindicators of environmental disturbances?

Cited by 24 publications

References 39 publications

Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation

Soil Health and Arthropods: From Complex System to Worthwhile Investigation

Diversity of Ants and Termites of the Botanical Garden of the University of Lomé, Togo

Opportunistic Occupation of Nests of Microcerotermes spp. Silvestri (Termitidae, Termitinae) by Partamona seridoensis Camargo & Pedro (Apidae, Meliponini) in the Brazilian Tropical Dry Forest

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