Determinants of Termite Assemblages' Characteristics within Natural Habitats of a Sudano-Guinean Savanna (Comoe National Park, Côte d'Ivoire).

N’Golo Koné,Karl Linsenmair,Kolotchèlèma Silué,Souleymane Konaté

doi:10.3390/insects9040189

N’Golo Koné, Karl Linsenmair + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/insects9040189

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Abstract

Termites are one of the major components of tropical ecosystems. However, the ecological and biological variables determining the structure of their communities within natural habitats are less documented in general and especially in the Comoe National Park, a Sudano-Guinean savanna zone located in the north-eastern part of Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa). Using a standardized method of belt transects, the structure of termite’s communities was estimated within habitats differing in the structure of their vegetation, soil characteristics, and the disturbance level caused by annual occurrences of bushfires. The effect of a set of environmental variables (habitat type, occurrence of annual bushfire, woody plant density, woody plant species richness, and soil physicochemical parameters) was tested on the habitat-specific recorded termite species. Sixty species of termites belonging to 19 genera, seven subfamilies and two families, namely Rhinotermitidae (Coptotermitinae and Rhinotermitinae) and Termitidae (Apicotermitinae, Cubitermitinae, Macrotermitinae, Nasutitermitinae, and Termitinae) were sampled. These species were assigned to the four feeding groups of termites: fungus growers (18 species), wood feeders (17 species), soil feeders (19 species) and the grass feeders (6 species). The highest diversity of termites was encountered in forest habitats, with 37 and 34, respectively, for the gallery forest and the forest island. Among savanna habitats, the woodland savanna was identified as the most diversified habitat with 32 recorded species, followed by the tree savanna (28 species) and the grassy savanna (17 species). The distribution of termite species and their respective feedings groups was determined by the habitat type and a set of environmental variables such as Woody Plant Diversity (WPD), Woody plant Families Diversity (WPFD), and Organic Carbon (OC). The annual Fire Occurrence (FO) was found to indirectly impact the characteristics of termite assemblages within natural habitats via their respective Herbaceous Species Richness (HSR) and Woody Plant Species Richness (WPSR). In summary, the spatial heterogeneity of the Comoe National Park, modeled by the uncontrolled annual bushfire, offers a diversified natural habitat with an important variety of termite-habitat-specific species, probably due to the food preference of these organisms and its relatively good conservation status.

Highlights

Termites are one of the components that are actors and driving forces in the functioning and dynamics of tropical ecosystems [1,2,3], in addition to being the most dominant invertebrates of the soils of these ecosystems
This study has provided new information regarding the effects of a set of biotic and abiotic factors of habitats on the diversity and distribution of termite communities
The highest species richness was found in forest habitats; while a relatively good species richness was observed in savanna habitats, with, a low complementarity between termites’ assemblages within forests and savanna habitats

Summary

Introduction

Termites are one of the components that are actors and driving forces in the functioning and dynamics of tropical ecosystems [1,2,3], in addition to being the most dominant invertebrates of the soils of these ecosystems. 20% of the grass and leaf litters [8] These organisms are known as good bio-indicators in tropical ecosystems with regard to their sensitivity to habitat disturbance causing changes in their species richness, composition, and functional characteristics [9,10,11]. In these tropical ecosystems, such as savannas, termites’ community composition is strongly influenced by a set of parameters, like the variation in topography and soil characteristics [12,13], while changes in savanna vegetation structure and composition are mainly determined by precipitation, fire, and herbivory [14]

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