Termite mound emissions of CH 4 and CO 2 are primarily determined by seasonal changes in termite biomass and behaviour

H Jamali; SJ Livesley; TZ Dawes; LB Hutley; SK Arndt

Journal article

Termite mound emissions of CH 4 and CO 2 are primarily determined by seasonal changes in termite biomass and behaviour

H Jamali, SJ Livesley, TZ Dawes, LB Hutley, SK Arndt

Oecologia | SPRINGER | Published : 2011

DOI: 10.1007/s00442-011-1991-3

Abstract

Termites are a highly uncertain component in the global source budgets of CH 4 and CO 2. Large seasonal variations in termite mound fluxes of CH 4 and CO 2 have been reported in tropical savannas but the reason for this is largely unknown. This paper investigated the processes that govern these seasonal variations in CH 4 and CO 2 fluxes from the mounds of Microcerotermes nervosus Hill (Termitidae), a common termite species in Australian tropical savannas. Fluxes of CH 4 and CO 2 of termite mounds were 3. 5-fold greater in the wet season as compared to the dry season and were a direct function of termite biomass. Termite biomass in mound samples was tenfold greater in the wet season compared..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Stephen Livesley Author

Stefan Arndt Author

Related Projects (1)

INTEGRATIVE ASSESSMENT OF DISTURBANCE AND LAND-USE CHANGE ON THE TOTAL GREENHOUSE GAS BALANCE AND NUTRIENT CYCLING IN SAVANNA ECOSYSTEMS

Climate change and variability is expected to have an impact on the NT environment and economy. This project will enable NT specific calibra..

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Australian Research Council, Linkage Grant LP0774812. Jamali was supported by an AusAID postgraduate scholarship. The authors would like to thank Gus Wanganeen from CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Darwin for identifying the termite species, and Benedikt Fest from The University of Melbourne for his technical support in measuring the gas diffusivity using SF6. We are also grateful to Claire Petit and other students at CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Darwin for their help in termite sorting. All experiments conducted in this study comply with the current laws of Australia.