A study of the biological interaction among social insects on the rainforest canopy in Southeast Asia

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

In this project, 3 major interactions on the rainforest canopy were investigated to clarify the maintenance and mechanism of there biological interactions.1. Termites-termites interactionsAssessment of termites and their ecological function on the forest floor, the rainforest canopy and intermediate area were carried out in dipterocarp forest. Material transportation ability of termites was also investigated. All these results show that there are considerable amount of termites exist also in the canopy and termites of each area have its own assemblage pattern. Certain termite species have wide range of vertical distribution and transportation ability from the ground level to the canopy.2. Plant-ants and myrmecophilious cockroaches interactionsTwo epiphytic ferns, Platycerium and Lecanopteris, Crematogaster difformis ant, and Pseudoanaplectinia yumotoi cockroache were investigated in dipterocarp forest canopy in Borneo. The behavioral experiments and chemical analysis of ants and cockroaches were also carried out. From the behavioral experiments, it suggests that P. yumotoi is the only and prominent myrmecophile on C. difformis colonies. We analyzed CHCs of P yumotoi and C. difformis using GC and GC-MS. These results suggest that P yumotoi has succeeded to penetrate host ant colony in a unique and unknown manner, and the ant C. difformis also have a unique way to recognize the other ant individuals.3. Termites-ants interactionsUnder the field observation of huge processing of the termite, We found some clear evidences that the soldiers stand aside completely control the stream of processing workers. Chemical analysis of the soldier head extract and field and laboratory bioassay was conducted to reproduce the behavior of the workers, some sesquiterpen compounds was found to be the candidate or the enclosure pheromone.