Termite mounds as islands: Woody plant assemblages relative to termitarium size and soil properties

Journal of Vegetation Science

Volumn 24, Issue 4, 2013, Pages 702-711

  Joseph, Grant S ^a   Seymour, Colleen L ^a,b   Cumming, Graeme S ^a   Cumming, David H M ^a,c   Mahlangu, Zacheus ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN   (South Africa)

^b SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL BIODIVERSITY INSTITUTE   (South Africa)

^c UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE   (Zimbabwe)

Author keywords

Biodiversity; Indicator species; Macrotermes; Miombo; Savanna tree patch dynamics; Termite mound

Indexed keywords

BIOINDICATOR; BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTION; COMMUNITY DYNAMICS; NEST STRUCTURE; PATCH DYNAMICS; PH; PLANT COMMUNITY; SAVANNA; SOIL NUTRIENT; SOIL PROFILE; SOIL PROPERTY; TERMITE; WOODLAND; WOODY PLANT;

ZIMBABWE;

ANIMALIA; ISOPTERA; MACROTERMES; MACROTERMITINAE; TERMITARIA;

EID: 84880312288     PISSN: 11009233     EISSN: 16541103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2012.01489.x     Document Type: Article

References (59)

1. Belsky, A.J. & Canham, C.D. 1994. Forest gaps and isolated savanna trees: an application of patch dynamics in two ecosystems. BioScience 44: 77-84.
2. Bloesch, U. 2008. Thicket clumps: a characteristic feature of the Kagera savanna landscape, East Africa. Journal of Vegetation Science 19: 31-44.
3. Brody, A.K., Palmer, T.M., Fox-Dobbs, K. & Doak, D.F. 2010. Termites, vertebrate herbivores, and the fruiting success of Acacia drepanolobium. Ecology 91: 399-407.
4. Button, T.W., Arshad, M.A. & Tieszen, L.L. 1983. Stable isotope analysis of termite food habits in East African grasslands. Oecologia 59: 1-6.
5. Campbell, B., Frost, P. & Byron, N. 1996. Miombo woodlands and their use: overview and key issues. In: Campbell, B.M. (ed.) The miombo in transition: woodlands and welfare in Africa, pp. 1-10. Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, ID.
6. Chidumayo, E.N. 2002. Changes in miombo woodland structure under different land tenure and use systems in central Zambia. Journal of Biogeography 29: 1619-1626.
7. Clarke, K.R. 1993. Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Australian Journal of Ecology 18: 117-143.
8. Clarke, K.R. & Green, R.H. 1988. Statistical design and analysis for a "biological effects" study. Marine Ecological Progress Series 46: 213-226.
9. Clarke, K.R. & Warwick, R.M. 1994. Change in marine communities: an approach to statistical analysis and interpretation. Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, UK.
10. Coates Palgrave, K. & Coates Palgrave, M. 2002. Palgrave's Trees of Southern Africa. Third ed. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, ZA.
11. Cumming, D.H.M. 1981. Elephants and woodlands in Chizarira National Park. In: Jewell, P.A., Hold, S. & Hart, D. (eds.) Problems in management of locally abundant wild animals, pp. 347-349. Academic Press, New York, NY, US.
12. Dangerfield, J.M., McCarthy, T.S. & Ellery, W.N. 1998. The mound-building termite Macrotermes michaelseni as an ecosystem engineer. Journal of Tropical Ecology 14: 507-520.
13. Dean, W.R.J., Milton, S.J. & Jeltsch, F. 1999. Large trees, fertile islands and birds in arid savanna. Journal of Arid Environments 41: 61-78.
14. Dufrêne, M. & Legendre, P. 1997. Species assemblages and indicator species: the need for a flexible asymmetrical approach. Ecological Monographs 67: 345-366.
15. Dunham, K.M., Mackie, C.S., Musemburi, O.C., Chipise, D.M., Chiweshe, N.C., Taylor, R.D., Chimuti, T., Zhuwau, C. & Brightman, M.A.H. 2006. Aerial survey of elephants and other large herbivores in the Sebungwe Region, Zimbabwe:2006. In: WWF-SAROPO Occasional Paper Number 12, Harare, Zimbabwe.
16. EPA 2007. BSW-846 manual (Method 3050). United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington DC, US.
17. Ettema, C.H. & Wardle, D.A. 2002. Spatial soil ecology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17: 177-183.
18. Fanshawe, D.B. 1968. The vegetation of Zambian termitaria. Kirkia 6: 169-180.
19. Fleming, P.A. & Loveridge, J.P. 2003. Miombo woodland termite mounds: resource islands for small vertebrates? Journal of Zoology 259: 161-168.
20. Frost, P.G.H. 1996. The ecology of miombo woodlands. In: Campbell, B.M. (ed.) The miombo in transition: woodlands and welfare in Africa, pp. 11-57. Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, ID.
21. Glover, P.E. 1937. A contribution to the ecology of the highveld flora. South African Journal of Science 34: 224-259.
22. Groen, T.A., van Langevelde, F., van de Vijver, C.A.D.M., Govender, N. & Prins, H.H.T. 2008. Soil clay content and fire frequency affect clustering in trees in South African savannas. Journal of Tropical Ecology 24: 269-279.
23. Hesse, P.R. 1955. A chemical and physical study of the soils of termite mounds in East-Africa. The Journal of Ecology 43: 449-461.
24. Holdo, R.M. & McDowell, L.R. 2004. Termite mounds as nutrient-rich food patches for elephants. Biotropica 36: 231-239.
25. Hughes, L., Westoby, M. & Johnson, A.D. 1993. Nutrient costs of vertebrate- and ant-dispersed fruits. Functional Ecology 7: 54-62.
26. Huntley, B.J. 1982. Southern African Savannas. In: Huntley, B.J. & Walker, B.H. (eds.) Ecology of Tropical Savannas, pp. 101-119. Springer, BerlinDE.
27. Huston, M.A. & De Angelis, D.L. 1994. Competition and coexistence: the effects of resource transport and supply rates. American Naturalist 144: 954-977.
28. Jacobs, S., Bechtold, J., Biggs, H., Grimm, N., Lorentz, S., McClain, M., Naiman, R., Perakis, S., Pinay, G. & Scholes, M. 2007. Nutrient vectors and riparian processing: a review with special reference to African semiarid savanna ecosystems. Ecosystems 10: 1231-1249.
29. Jones, C.G., Lawton, J.H. & Shachak, M. 1994. Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos 69: 373-386.
30. Joseph, G.S., Cumming, G.S., Cumming, D.H.M., Mahlangu, Z., Altwegg, R. & Seymour, C.L. 2011. Large termitaria act as refugia for tall trees, deadwood and cavity-using birds in a miombo woodland. Landscape Ecology 26: 439-448.
31. Kellman, M. 1979. Soil enrichment by neotropical savanna trees. Journal of Ecology 67: 565-577.
32. Konaté, S., Le Roux, X., Tessier, D. & Lepage, M. 1999. Influence of large termitaria on soil characteristics, soil water regime, and tree leaf shedding pattern in a West African savanna. Plant and Soil 206: 47-60.
33. Korsaeth, A., Molstad, L. & Bakken, L.R. 2001. Modelling the competition for nitrogen between plants and microflora as a function of soil heterogeneity. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 33: 215-226.
34. Kraft, N.J.B., Valencia, R. & Ackerly, D.D. 2008. Functional traits and niche-based tree community assembly in an Amazonian foreat. Science 322: 580-582.
35. Lal, R. 1987. Tropical ecology and physical edaphology. J. Wiley and Sons, New York, NY, US.
36. Levin, S.A. & Paine, R.T. 1974. Disturbance, patch formation, and community structure. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 71: 2744-2747.
37. Lineham, S. 1965. Rainfall in Rhodesia. In: Collins, M.O. (ed.) Rhodesia: its natural resources and economic development, pp. 26-27. Collins, Salisbury, Rhodesia.
38. Loveridge, J.P. & Moe, S.R. 2004. Termitaria as browsing hotspots for African megaherbivores in miombo woodland. Journal of Tropical Ecology 20: 337-343.
39. MacArthur, R.H. & Wilson, E.O. 1967. The theory of island biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, US.
40. Makumbe, M.T. 2008. Woody plant species diversity and structure under different land uses in the Lake Chivero area of Zimbabwe. Department of Biological Sciences, MSc Thesis. University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
41. Malaisse, F. 1978. High termitaria. In: Werger, M.A.J. (ed.) Biogeography and ecology of Southern Africa, pp. 1279-1300. Dr. W. Junk b v, The Hague, NL.
42. Milewski, A.V. 1982. The occurrence of seeds and fruits taken by ants versus birds in mediterranean Australia and southern Africa, in relation to the availability of soil potassium. Journal of Biogeography 9: 505-516.
43. Millington, A.C., Critchley, R.W., Douglas, T.D. & Ryan, P. 1994. Estimating woody biomass in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank, Washington, DC, US.
44. Mills, A.J., Milewski, A.V., Fey, M.V., Groengroeft, A. & Petersen, A. 2009. Fungus culturing, nutrient mining and geophagy: a geochemical investigation of Macrotermes and Trinervitermes mounds in southern Africa. Journal of Zoology (London) 278: 24-35.
45. Mobæk, R., Narmo, A.K. & Moe, S.R. 2005. Termitaria are focal feeding sites for large ungulates in Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda. Journal of Zoology 267: 97-102.
46. Moe, S., Mobæk, R. & Narmo, A. 2009. Mound building termites contribute to savanna vegetation heterogeneity. Plant Ecology 202: 31-40.
47. Moore, J.M. & Picker, M.D. 1991. Heuweltjies (earth mounds) in the Clanwilliam district, Cape Province, South Africa: 4000-year-old termite nests. Oecologia 86: 424-432.
48. Potts, A.J., Midgley, J.J. & Harris, C. 2009. Stable isotope and 14-C study of biogenic calcrete in a termite mound, Western Cape, South Africa, and its palaeoenvironmental significance. Quaternary Research 72: 258-264.
49. Pringle, R.M., Doak, D.F., Brody, A.K., Jocqué, R. & Palmer, T.M. 2010. Spatial pattern enhances ecosystem functioning in an African savanna. PLoS Biology 8: e1000377.
50. Scholes, R.J. 1990. The influence of soil fertility on the ecology of southern African dry savannas. Journal of Biogeography 17: 415-419.
51. Sileshi, G.W., Arshad, M.A., Konaté, S. & Nkunika, P.O.Y. 2010. Termite-induced heterogeneity in African savanna vegetation: mechanisms and patterns. Journal of Vegetation Science 21: 923-937.
52. Torrance, J.D. 1965. The temperature of Rhodesia. In: Collins, M.O. (ed.) Rhodesia: its natural resources and economic development, pp.28-29. Collins, Salisbury, Rhodesia.
53. Traoré, S., Nygård, R., Guinko, S. & Lepage, M. 2008. Impact of Macrotermes termitaria as a source of heterogeneity on tree diversity and structure in a Sudanian savannah under controlled grazing and annual prescribed fire (Burkina Faso). Forest Ecology and Management 255: 2337-2346.
54. Treydte, A.C., van der Beek, J.G.M., Perdok, A.A. & van Wieren, S.E. 2011. Grazing ungulates select for grasses growing beneath trees in African savannas. Mammalian Biology 76: 345-350.
55. Turner, J.S., Marais, E., Vinte, M., Mudengi, A. & Park, W.L. 2006. Termites, water and soils. Agricola 16: 40-45.
56. Watson, J.P. 1977. The use of mounds of the termite Macrotermes falciger (Gerstäcker) as a soil amendment. Journal of Soil Science 28: 664-672.
57. White, F. 1983. The vegetation of Africa. UNESCO, Paris, FR.
58. Wild, H. 1952. The vegetation of Southern Rhodesia termitaria. Rhodesia Agriculture Journal 49: 280-292.
59. Young, T.P., Patridge, N. & Alison, M. 1995. Long-term glades in Acacia bushland and their edge effects in Laikipia, Kenya. Ecological Applications 5: 97-108.