Insights into the termite assemblage of a neotropical rainforest from the spatio‐temporal distribution of flying alates

Abstract

Abstract. 1. During the last decade, many studies have focused on the diversity of termite species and their ecological function, but these have been mostly based on transect protocols not designed to sample canopy‐dwelling and subterranean species. Additionally, all these studies relied upon collections of foraging parties composed of workers and soldiers in the soil or in pieces of wood.2. We hypothesised that alate‐based protocols could disclose spatial and temporal patterns of termite flights and provide a more balanced picture of assemblages for ecological and biodiversity surveys.3. Our study took place in the framework of the IBISCA‐Panama project, which used numerous trapping methods to give a multifaceted overview of a complex tropical rainforest arthropod community. Two methods, flight interception traps and light traps, were efficient at collecting termite alates. All collected specimens were assigned to morphospecies which were later identified to the genus or species level, when possible.4. Our results highlighted that: (i) alate trapping represents a powerful complement to ground‐based standardised sampling protocols by allowing the documentation of the whole termite assemblage. (ii) Canopy dwellers fly preferentially in the upper strata, whereas no vertical stratification was found for ground dwellers, suggesting that height of flight is dictated by a pressure for long distance dispersal as well as the need to find a suitable site for colony‐founding. (iii) Alates from closely related species do not stagger their flight period to avoid hybridisation but rather synchronise their flights according to environmental factors.