Experimental heating of Macrotermes bellicosus (Isoptera, Macrotermitinae) mounds: what role does microclimate play in influencing mound architecture?
Experimental heating of Macrotermes bellicosus (Isoptera, Macrotermitinae) mounds: what role does microclimate play in influencing mound architecture?
复制标题
大白蚁（等翅目、大白蚁亚科）土丘的实验加热：微气候在影响土丘结构方面发挥什么作用？
作者：
J. Korb;K. Linsenmair
摘要：科莫埃国家公园（西非象牙海岸）的真菌培养白蚁 Macrotermes bellicosus (Smeathman) 土丘在不同栖息地的结构上有所不同。较凉爽但热力更稳定的廊道森林中的土丘已被证明是圆顶形的，墙壁较厚，而灌木稀树草原中的土丘则更为复杂，有许多山脊和薄壁。在这项调查中，我们进行了加热实验，以确定两个栖息地土丘的热特性，以测试土丘建筑的温度调节意义的假设。这些实验表明，每个土堆都有其独特的加热行为，具体取决于其尺寸（高度、表面、体积）。此外，还证明了特定栖息地的特征：通过热容量测量，廊道森林的土丘比灌木稀树草原的土丘具有更高的热惯性。因此，画廊森林中厚壁的圆顶形土丘在温度不理想的低温下减少了向环境的热量损失。
Summary: Mounds of the fungus-cultivating termite Macrotermes bellicosus (Smeathman) in the Comoé-National Park (Ivory Coast, West Africa) differ in architecture between habitats. Mounds in the cooler, but thermally more stable gallery forest have been shown to be dome-shaped with thick walls, whereas mounds in the shrub savanna are more complex with many ridges and thin walls. In this investigation, we performed heating experiments to determine the thermal properties of the mounds in both habitats in order to test the hypothesis of a thermoregulatory significance of mound architecture. These experiments revealed that each mound had its characteristic individual heating up behavior that depends on its dimensions (height, surface, volume). In addition, habitat-specific traits were demonstrated: mounds of the gallery forest had higher thermal inertia, measured by the thermal capacity, than mounds of the shrub savanna. Thus, the dome-shaped mounds with thick walls in the gallery forest, with its suboptimal low temperatures, reduce loss of heat to the environment.