Termites can be dangerous to your house once they start eating wood.
However, the actual number is only around 4% of termite speciesPests can be found all over the world and could potentially eat your house.
Wood-eating termites are an important part of warm tropical and subtropical ecosystems.
They can also recycle nutrients from the soil by eating wood and return carbon to the atmosphere.
Our new research Published today in ScienceIt was the first time that termites were able to quantify how much they love warmth.
These results were striking. We found that termites consume deadwood faster in warmer environments. For example, termites in a region with temperatures of 30°C will eat wood seven times faster than in a place with temperatures of 20°C.
Our results also show that termites will continue to play an increasing role in the next decade, according to our findings. Climate ChangeTheir potential habitat on the planet will be increased.
This could result in more carbon from deadwood being released into our atmosphere.
Deadwood in global carbon cycle
TreesThey play an important role in the global carbon cycle. They are responsible for approximately 80% of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that they absorb through photosynthesis. HalfThe carbon is used to make new plant mass.
Most TreesEach year they grow in size and height slowly, but a few die. Their remains then go into the deadwood pool.
Carbon accumulates here, until deadwood is either Burned or decomposingThrough the consumption of microbes (fungi or bacteria), and insects such as termites.
If the deadwood pool can be consumed quickly, the carbon there will be rapidly released back into the atmosphere. Slow decay can slow down carbon dioxide and methane accumulation in the atmosphere.
Understanding the dynamics of the organisms that decompose deadwood is crucial for scientists to predict the effects of climate change on carbon storage in soil ecosystems.
This is vital as the release of deadwood carbon into the atmosphere could accelerate climate change. It could be stored for longer periods of time, which could slow down climate change.
Testing how fast termites eat deadwood
Scientists are generally able to understand the conditions that encourage microbes to eat deadwood. We are able to identify their activities. Doubles with each 10°C increase in temperature. Moisture is often a better environment for the microbial decay of deadwood.
However, scientists had limited information about the distribution of deadwood-eating termites around the globe, and how they would react to temperature and humidity levels.
This was the reason we developed a protocol for assessing termite use of deadwood. We then tested it in a rainforest and savannah ecosystem. Northeast Queensland.
The method consisted of placing a series a mesh-covered wooden blocks on the soil surface at a few spots.
Half of the blocks had small holes in their mesh that gave termites access. The mesh didn’t have any holes in the other half, so microbes couldn’t get to the blocks through it.
Each six-month period, we collected wood blocks. We found that the mesh covered with holes decomposed faster than the ones without. This indicates that termites were a significant contributor to the decay.
However, the test did not tell us anything about termites in Queensland.
The next step was to contact colleagues who could use the wood block protocol at study sites around the globe. These people enthusiastically accepted our invitation.
The effort was completed by more than 100 collaborators at 130 sites across six continents.
This wide coverage allowed us to evaluate how wood consumption by termites varied according to climatic factors like rainfall and average annual temperature.
Termites like warmth and not too much rain.
For the wood blocks accessible to only microbes, we confirmed what scientists already knew – that decay rates approximately doubled across sites for each 10°C increase in mean annual temperature.
Higher annual rainfall rates, like in Queensland’s rainforests can increase the decay rate.
For the termites’ wood blocks, we observed a much steeper relationship between decay rates and temperature – deadwood generally decayed almost seven times faster at sites that were 10°C hotter than others.
This can be viewed in the context of termite activity. It meant that wood blocks at the northern end of Australia, near tropical Darwin, decayed more quickly than those in warm Tasmania.
Our analyses showed that termite consumption of wood blocks was also highest in warm regions with low to medium annual rainfall.
For example, termite decomposition was five times faster than it was in a subtropical desert in South Africa or a tropical rainforest on Puerto Rico.
This could be because termites that are safe in their mounds can access water deep within the soil during dry times. However, waterlogging can reduce their ability to forage and forage for deadwood.
Climate change and termites
These results were combined in a model to forecast how termite deadwood consumption might change in response to climate change.
As climate change projections show that termite habitat will expand northwards and southwards, we expect more termite activity in the future.
This will result in faster carbon cycling through deadwood pool, returning carbon dioxide fixated by trees to atmosphere. This could potentially limit carbon storage in these ecosystems.
Reduced carbon on land could create a feedback loop that accelerates climate change.
We’ve known for a long time that climate change caused by humans would favor a few but leave many others behind.
It seems that the humble termite will be one of those winners.
Alexander CheesmanSenior Research Fellow James Cook University; Amy ZanneProfessor in Biology, Aresty Chair on Tropical Ecology. University of MiamiAnd Lucas Cernusak, Associate Professor, Plant Physiology, James Cook University
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