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Forest edge effects on termites in a neotropical rainforest

par Duquesne, Edouard ;Dumortier, Antoine;Babczenko, Pavel;Roisin, Yves
Référence Proceedings of the XII European Congress of Entomology, XII European Congress of Entomology, Heraklion, Greece, 2023(XII: Heraklion)
Publication Publié, 2023-10-16

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Résumé :

Termites dominate tropical soils and play a major role in organic mater decomposition, especially in rainforests. However, tropical forests are heavily fragmented which implies a loss of surface as well as an increase in forest edges. The later characterized by different environmental conditions from the interior of the forest. Both factors —fragment area reduction and forest edge increase— are hard to study independently. Here, we investigated the occurrence and depth of edge effects on the termite assemblage in an otherwise continuous neotropical rainforest. Three sites were sampled in the Amazonian rainforest in French Guiana along the almost straight edge of a 90-m wide powerline clearing. Whereas edge effects on other insects such as ants and dung beetles have been reported up to 100-300 m into the interior, neotropical termites were not significantly affected. Soil feeder frequency was not lower near the forest edge although they have an allegedly thinner cuticle and require moist and moist soil. Finally, no variation in beta diversity was found near the edge either. Overall, termites appear as resilient insects against forest edges as long as they do not suffer from fragment size reduction. However, a threefold increase in frequency of an opportunistic pest species (Heterotermes tenuis) was found near the edge. We hypothesize that H. tenuis good adaptability and dispersibility may have allowed it to quickly colonize and dominate this environment before more cryptic species, as has been shown for ants.