Assessing the Australian Termite Diversity Anomaly: How Habitat and Rainfall Affect Termite Assemblages
Assessing the Australian Termite Diversity Anomaly: How Habitat and Rainfall Affect Termite Assemblages
复制标题
评估澳大利亚白蚁多样性异常现象：栖息地与降雨如何影响白蚁群落
DOI：
10.3389/fevo.2021.657444
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发表时间：
2021-04-23
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Zanne, Amy E.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Clement, Rebecca A.;Flores-Moreno, Habacuc;Zanne, Amy E.
白蚁是热带栖息地重要的生态系统工程师，不同的取食群体能够分解木材，草，凋落物和土壤有机质。在大多数热带地区，白蚁丰度和物种多样性被认为会随着降雨量的增加而增加，在热带雨林中发现的数量最多。然而，在澳大利亚热带地区，这种模式被认为是相反的，热带雨林中的物种丰富度和白蚁丰度低于干燥的栖息地。这种模式的潜在机制尚不清楚。我们比较了白蚁组合（丰度，活动，多样性和喂养组的组成）在五个站点沿着降水梯度（范围从类似的800至4,000毫米的年降雨量），跨越干燥和潮湿的热带稀树草原栖息地，湿硬叶，和低地和高地雨林在热带北昆士兰州。从干燥到潮湿的栖息地，我们观察到白蚁丰度在土丘和枯木占用显着减少，更大的丰度和活动在热带稀树草原网站（低降水）相比，雨林或硬叶网站（高降水）。我们还观察到营业额白蚁物种和喂养组的多样性在网站上，是接近在一起，但在不同的栖息地。白蚁物种和喂养组丰富度最高的稀树草原网站，13个白蚁物种的木材，凋落物，草，粪便，土壤喂养组，而只有5个白蚁物种遇到在雨林和潮湿的硬叶植物网站，所有木材饲养。这些结果表明，澳大利亚白蚁多样性异常可能部分是由特定的喂养群体如何在澳大利亚各地的栖息地殖民化。因此，与其他热带雨林中的白蚁相比，澳大利亚雨林中的白蚁在生态系统过程中可能不那么重要，例如分解过程中的碳和养分循环。
Termites are important ecosystem engineers in tropical habitats, with different feeding groups able to decompose wood, grass, litter, and soil organic matter. In most tropical regions, termite abundance and species diversity are assumed to increase with rainfall, with highest levels found in rainforests. However, in the Australian tropics, this pattern is thought to be reversed, with lower species richness and termite abundance found in rainforest than drier habitats. The potential mechanisms underlying this pattern remain unclear. We compared termite assemblages (abundance, activity, diversity, and feeding group composition) across five sites along a precipitation gradient (ranging from similar to 800 to 4,000 mm annual rainfall), spanning dry and wet savanna habitats, wet sclerophyll, and lowland and upland rainforests in tropical North Queensland. Moving from dry to wet habitats, we observed dramatic decreases in termite abundance in both mounds and dead wood occupancy, with greater abundance and activity at savanna sites (low precipitation) compared with rainforest or sclerophyll sites (high precipitation). We also observed a turnover in termite species and feeding group diversity across sites that were close together, but in different habitats. Termite species and feeding group richness were highest in savanna sites, with 13 termite species from wood-, litter-, grass-, dung-, and soil-feeding groups, while only five termite species were encountered in rainforest and wet sclerophyll sites-all wood feeders. These results suggest that the Australian termite diversity anomaly may be partly driven by how specific feeding groups colonized habitats across Australia. Consequently, termites in Australian rainforests may be less important in ecosystem processes, such as carbon and nutrient cycling during decomposition, compared with termites in other tropical rainforests.