Termites create spatial structure and govern ecosystem function by affecting N2 fixation in an East African savanna

Ecology

Volumn 91, Issue 5, 2010, Pages 1296-1307

  Fox Dobbs, Kena ^a,b   Doak, Daniel F ^b   Brody, Alison K ^c   Palmer, Todd M ^d  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT   (United States)

^d University of Florida ^*  (United States)

Author keywords

Kenya; Nitrogen fixation; Savanna; Spatial structure; Stable isotopes; Termites

Indexed keywords

BACTERIUM; ECOSYSTEM FUNCTION; ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE; KEYSTONE SPECIES; NITROGEN FIXATION; SAVANNA; STABLE ISOTOPE; SYMBIONT; TERMITE; UNGULATE;

ACACIA; AFRICA; ANIMAL; ARTICLE; ECOSYSTEM; FEEDING BEHAVIOR; ISOPTERA; MAMMAL; NITROGEN FIXATION; PHYSIOLOGY;

ACACIA; AFRICA; ANIMALS; ECOSYSTEM; FEEDING BEHAVIOR; ISOPTERA; MAMMALS; NITROGEN FIXATION;

EAST AFRICA;

ACACIA DREPANOLOBIUM; BACTERIA (MICROORGANISMS); ISOPTERA; POACEAE; RHINOTERMITIDAE; UNGULATA;

EID: 77949306084     PISSN: 00129658     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1890/09-0653.1     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. Abbadie, L., and M. Lepage. 1989. The role of subterranean fungus-comb chambers (Isoptera, Macrotermitinae) in soil nitrogen cycling in a preforest savanna (Cote d'Ivoire). Soil Biology Biochemistry 21:1067-1071.
2. Alios, H. F., and W. V. Bartholomew. 1959. Replacement of symbiotic fixation by available nitrogen. Soil Science 87:61-66.
3. Archibald, S., W. J. Bond, W. D. Stock, and D. H. K. Fairbanks. 2005. Shaping the landscape: fire-grazer interactions in an African savanna. Ecological Applications 15:96-109. (Pubitemid 40263571)
4. Arshad, M. A. 1981. Physical and chemical properties of termite mounds of two species of Macrotermes (Isoptera, Termitidae), and the surrounding soils of the semi-arid savanna of Kenya. Soil Science 132:161-174.
5. Augustine, D. J., S. J. McNaughton, and D. A. Frank. 2003. Feedbacks between soil nutrients and large herbivores in a managed savanna ecosystem. Ecological Applications 13: 1325-1337.
6. Bailey, R. G. 1996. Ecosystem geography. Springer, New York, New York, USA.
7. 15N natural abundance technique to quantify biological nitrogen fixation by woody perennials. Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems 57:235-270.
8. Boutton, T. W., M. A. Arshad, and L. L. Tieszen. 1983. Stable isotope analysis of termite food habits in East African grasslands. Oecologia 59:1-6.
9. Bowen, G. J., L. I. Wassenaar, and K. A. Hobson. 2005. Global application of stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes to wildlife forensics. Oecologia 143:337-348.
10. Brady, N. C., and R. R. Weil. 2002. The nature and properties of soils. Thirteenth edition. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA.
11. Brody, A. K., T. M. Palmer, K. Fox-Dobbs, and D. F. Doak. 2010. Termites, vertebrate herbivores, and the fruiting success of Acacia drepanolobium. Ecology 91:399-407.
12. Burnham, K. P., and D. R. Anderson. 2002. Model selection and multimodel inference: a practical information-theoretic approach. Second edition. Springer, New York, New York, USA.
13. Cook, G. D. 2001. Effects of frequent fires and grazing on stable nitrogen isotope ratios of vegetation in northern Australia. Austral Ecology 26:630-636.
14. Cook, G. D. 2006. The fate of nutrients during fires in a tropical savanna. Austral Ecology 19:359-365.
15. Craine, J. M., F. Ballantyne, M. Peel, N. Zambatis, C. Morrow, and W. D. Stock. 2009. Grazing and landscape controls on nitrogen availability across 330 South African savanna sites. Austral Ecology 34:731-740.
16. Darlington, J. P. E. C. 1982. The underground passages and storage pits in foraging by a nest of the termite Macrotermes michaelseni in Kajiado, Kenya. Journal of Zoology 198:237-247.
17. Darlington, J. P. E. C., and R. K. N. Bagine. 1999. Large termite nests in a moundfield on the Embakasi Plain, Kenya (Isoptera: Termitidae). Sociobiology 33:215-225.
18. Decaens, T., J. H. Galvis, and. E. Amezquita. 2001. Properties of the structures created by ecological engineers at the soil surface of a Colombian savanna. Comptes Rendus de l,Acacdemie des Sciences Serie III-Sciences de la. Vie 324: 465-478.
19. Duchafour, P. 1977. Pedology: pedogenesis and classification. George Allen and Unwin, London, UK.
20. Evans, R. D. 2007. Soil nitrogen isotope composition. Pages 83-98 in R. Michener and K. Lajtha, editors. Stable isotopes in ecology and environmental science. Second edition. Blackwell Publishing, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
21. Fuhlendorf, A. D., D. M. Engle, J. Kerby, and R. Hamilton. 2009. Pyric herbivory: rewilding landscapes through the recoupling of fire and grazing. Conservation Biology 23:588-598.
22. 15N natural abundance method for estimating biological nitrogen fixation in Amazonian forest legumes. Basic Applied Ecology 5:567-580.
23. Goheen, J. R., F. Keesing, B. F. Allan, D. Ogada, and R. S. Ostfeld. 2004. Net effects of large mammals on Acacia seedling survival in an African savanna. Ecology 85:1555-1561.
24. 13C values of Eucalyptus globulus and Ricinus communis. Plant, Cell and Environment 16:375-382.
25. Högberg, P. 1986. Soil nutrient availability, root symbioses and tree species composition in tropical Africa: a review. Journal of Tropical Ecology 2:359-372.
26. 1N natural abundance as a possible marker of the ectomycorrhizal habit of trees in mixed African woodlands. New Phytologist 115:483-486.
27. 15N natural abundance in soil-plant systems. New Phytologist 137:179-203.
28. Holt, J. A., and M. Lepage. 2000. Termites and soil properties. Pages 389-408 in T. Abe, D. E. Bignell, and M. Higashi, editors. Termites: evolution, sociality, symbioses, ecology. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
29. Jones, J. A. 1990. Termites, soil fertility and carbon cycling in dry tropical Africa: a hypothesis. Journal of Tropical Ecology 6:291-305.
30. Jouquet, P., V. Tavernier, L. Abbadie, and M. Lepage. 2005. Nests of subterranean fungus-growing termites (Isoptera, Macrotermitinae) as nutrient patches for grasses in savanna ecosystems. African Journal of Ecology 43:191-196. (Pubitemid 41710894)
31. Karieva, P. 1990. Population-dynamics in spatially complex environments: theory and data. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Series B 330:175-190.
32. Lensi, R., A. M. Domenach, and L. Abbadie. 1992. Field study of nitrification and denitrification in a wet savanna of West Africa (Lamto, Côte d'Ivoire). Plant Soil 147:107-113. (Pubitemid 23379328)
33. Lepage, M. G. 1981. The impact of the foraging populations of Macrotermes michaelseni (Sjostedt) (Isoptera: Macrotermitinae) on a semi-arid ecosystem (Kajiado, Kenya) II: Food offtake, comparison with large herbivores. [In French.] Insectes Sociaux 28:309-319.
34. Levin, S. A. 1992. The problem of pattern and scale in ecology. Ecology 73:1943-1967.
35. Mayaux, P., E. Bartholome, S. Fritz, and A. Belward. 2004. A new land-cover map of Africa for the year 2000. Journal of Biogeography 31:861-877. (Pubitemid 38681828)
36. McNaughton, S. J., F. F. Banyikwa, and M. M. McNaughton 1997. Promotion of the cycling of diet-enhancing nutrients by African grazers. Science 278:1798-1800.
37. Michelsen, A., C. Quarmby, D. Sleep, and S. Jonasson. 1998. Vascular plant 1N natural abundance in heath and forest tundra ecosystems is closely correlated with presence and type of mycorrhizal fungi in roots. Oecologia 115:406-418. (Pubitemid 28336095)
38. Moe, S. R., R. Moebaek, and A. K. Narmo. 2009. Mound building termites contribute to savanna vegetation heterogeneity. Plant Ecology 202:31-40.
39. Ndiaye, D., M. Lepage, C. E. Sail, and A. Brauman. 2004. Nitrogen transformations associated with termite biogenic structures in a dry savanna ecosystem. Plant and Soil 265: 189-196. (Pubitemid 40323226)
40. Okello, B. D., T. P. Young, C. Riginos, D. Kelly, and T. G. O'Connor. 2008. Short-term survival and long-term mortality of Acacia drepanolobium after a controlled burn. African Journal of Ecology 46:395-401.
41. Palmer, T. M. 2003. Spatial habitat heterogeneity influences competition and coexistence in an African acacia ant guild. Ecology 84:2843-2855.
42. 15N natural abundance method. Plant and Soil 275:261-269.
43. Reitkerk, M., and J. van de Koppel. 2008. Regular pattern formation in real ecosystems. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23:169-175.
44. Riginos, C., and T. P. Young. 2007. Positive and negative effects of grasses and wild and domestic herbivores on Acacia saplings in an East African savanna. Oecologia 153:985-995.
45. Schulze, E. D., G. Gebauer, H. Ziegler, and O. L. Lange. 1991. Estimates of nitrogen fixation by trees on an aridity gradient in Namibia. Oecologia 88:451-455.
46. 15N abundance. Australian Journal, of Plant Physiology 1.3:699-756.
47. Sinclair, A. R. E. 2003. Mammal, population regulation, keystone processes and ecosystem dynamics. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal. Society B 358:1729-1740.
48. 13N natural abundance method. Plant and Soil 255:495-502.
49. 2-fixing Acacia species on patterns of nutrient cycling in two Cape ecosystems: evidence from soil incubation studies and N natural abundance values. Oecologia 101:375-382.
50. Taylor, H. P. 1974. The application of oxygen and hydrogen isotope studies to problems of hydrothermal alteration and ore deposition. Economic Geology 69:843-883.
51. Tews, J., U. Brose, V. Grimm, K. Tielbörger, M. C. Wichmann, M. Schwager, and F. Jeltsch, 2004. Animal species diversity driven by habitat heterogeneity/diversity: The importance of keystone structures. Journal of Biogeography 31:79-92. (Pubitemid 38106652)
52. Tilman, D., and P. Karieva. 1997. Spatial ecology: The role of space in population dynamics and interspecific interactions. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
53. van der Valk, A. G., and B. G. Warner. 2009. The development of patterned mosaic landscapes: an overview. Plant Ecology 200:1-7.
54. Vitousek, P. M., L. R. Walker, L. D. Whiteaker, D. MuellerDombois, and P. A. Matson. 1987. Biological invasion by Myrica faya alters ecosystem development in Hawaii. Science 238:802-804.
55. Whitford, W. G. 1996. The importance of the biodiversity of soil biota in arid ecosystems. Biodiversity Conservation 5: 185-195. (Pubitemid 27003772)
56. Yelenik, S. G., W. D. Stock, and D. M. Richardson. 2004. Ecosystem level impacts of invasive Acacia saligna in the South African fynbos. Restoration Ecology 12:44-51.
57. Young, T. P., B. Okelio, D. Kinyua, and T. Palmer. 1998. KLEE: a long-term, multi-species herbivore exclusion experiment in Laikipia, Kenya. African Journal of Range Forage Science 14:92-104.
58. Zavala, M. A., and R. M. Holdo. 2005. Delayed effects of fire on habitat use by large herbivores in Acacia drepanolobium savanna. African Journal of Ecology 43:155-157.