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

本项目对热带雨林冠层上的3种主要相互作用进行了研究，以阐明这些生物相互作用的维持及其机制。白蚁与白蚁的相互作用对二龙果林林底、雨林冠层和中间区域白蚁及其生态功能进行了评价。研究了白蚁的物质运输能力。这些结果表明，白蚁在林冠层中也有相当数量的存在，且各区域白蚁有自己的组合格局。某些白蚁种类具有广泛的垂直分布和从地面到树冠的运输能力。研究了婆罗洲双叶香林冠层中两种附生蕨类植物Platycerium and Lecanopteris、Crematogaster diformis ant和pseudoanapplectinia yumotoi蜚蠊的相互作用。对蚂蚁和蟑螂进行了行为实验和化学分析。从行为实验来看，P. yumotoi是C. diformis菌落上唯一的显著嗜霉菌。采用气相色谱法和气相色谱-质谱法分析了双歧杆菌和双歧杆菌的CHCs。这些结果表明，P . yumotoi以一种独特而未知的方式成功地渗透到宿主蚁群中，而C. diformis也有一种独特的方式来识别其他蚂蚁个体。在对大量加工白蚁的实地观察中，我们发现一些明显的证据表明，站在一旁的士兵完全控制了加工工人的流动。对工蚁头提取物进行了化学分析，并进行了野外和实验室生物测定，重现了工蚁的行为，发现一些倍半萜烯类化合物是工蚁的候选信息素。

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.