Abstract
Natural fires represent a frequent and widespread disturbance in many environments around the world and consequently plays important roles on ecosystem dynamics. The goal of our study was to evaluate the short-term effects of fire on termites in a tropical mountain ecosystem of the Brazilian Cerrado (savanna). Termites were sampled in unburned and burned areas 2 weeks after an extensive fire event. Sampling method consisted of toilet paper baits placed at three elevations: 800 m (Cerrado woodland habitat), 1100 and 1400 m (campo rupestre vegetation type). A total of 19 termite species were sampled, of which 15 occurred at 800 m, eight at 1100 m, and two at 1400 m. Average termite species richness and bait colonization were lower at 1400 m compared with the other elevations, which did not differ from each other. No effect of fire on average species richness and bait colonization was found for any elevation. As termites are known to be strongly affected by climate, soil, and vegetation, termite assemblages are probably being filtered physiologically by environmental conditions along the elevation gradient. The high tolerance of termites to fire effects is likely associated with the strategy of many collected species in constructing hard clay mounds, either above or below ground, or taking shelter in mounds built by other termite species to escape fire. We conclude that while termites are sensitive to environmental changes in conditions along the elevation gradient, they are also highly tolerant to fire in this tropical mountain.
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Data are available on request from the authors.
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Acknowledgements
We thank T. Ferreira, T. Grego, M. Bruschi, A.P. Leon, and I. Avelar for help in the field. We thank the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for funding this project as part of Long-Term Ecological Research (PELD-CRSC-17); and the Research Support Foundation of Minas Gerais State (FAPEMIG) for financial support. We are also grateful to Cedro Têxtil, Reserva Vellozia, and Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó for logistical support. GWF thanks CNPq and Fapemig for grant support. N. Matías-Ferrer (INECOL) helped with reviews of previous drafts.
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GWF, YO, DN, SN designed study, SN and YO conducted study, RC identified termite species, SN analyzed the data and wrote the paper, and GWF, YO, DN and RC reviewed and edited the paper.
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Fernandes, G.W., Oki, Y., Negreiros, D. et al. No short-term effects of fire on termite diversity in a tropical mountain. Insect. Soc. 70, 203–211 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-023-00909-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-023-00909-4