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The ecology and foraging behaviour of the harvester termite, Baucaliotermes hainesi in semi-arid grasslands in the northwestern interior of South Africa

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Abstract

Termites, and in particular species that remove live plant material, play an important role in rangeland deterioration in the arid areas of the world. In the arid parts of southern Africa, where the sparse vegetation is important for subsistence and large-scale game farming, it is vital to understand termite ecology and feeding behaviour. Here, we focus on the termite species, Baucaliotermes hainesi, the most common termite species within its range in the arid interior of southern Africa. We determine B. hainesi foraging and nest maintenance activities, predator response and the preferred food plants. The study was conducted during 2014 in the Nama-Karoo biome of South Africa. We found that Baucaliotermes hainesi is strictly a nocturnal species and that temperature is the most important abiotic determinant of foraging activity. Below 14 °C, no foraging takes place, whilst maximum foraging activity is observed only above 20 °C. Only three plant species are foraged upon, with the grass Stipagrostis uniplumis utilised the most. We suggest that B. hainesi can significantly reduce grass cover, particularly in overgrazed areas and in dry years. Further studies to elucidate the effects of drought, overgrazing and the role of B. hainesi in veld degradation are critical, in particular under future climate scenarios that the predict aridification of B. hainesi habitat.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Henriëtte van der Linden, Dawie Snyman and Martin de Wit for assistance with fieldwork and comments on an earlier draft. We are grateful to Brigitte Braschler for assistance with ant identification. We thank the landowners, Isak and Hannes Nel, for permission to work on the farm Tierkop. We thank two anonymous reviewers and Yves Roisin whose suggestions helped improve and clarify this manuscript. SG acknowledges support from the National Research Foundation (Grant 87843).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Conservation and Marine Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, PO Box 652, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa

    S. Geerts

  2. PO Box 4203, Old Oak, Cape Town, 7537, South Africa

    J. van der Linden & E. van der Linden

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  1. S. Geerts
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Correspondence to S. Geerts.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 61 kb)

Video 1. Foraging Baucaliotermes hainesi soldiers protecting the workers. (MP4 3678 kb)

40_2016_488_MOESM3_ESM.mp4

Video 2. An ant, of the species Tetramorium grandinode (subfamily Myrmicinae), caught a Baucaliotermes hainesi soldier then encounters the foraging column again and makes a quick turnaround. (MP4 4660 kb)

40_2016_488_MOESM4_ESM.mp4

Video 3. Baucaliotermes hainesi soldiers squirting turpentine at an insect that landed close to a foraging column. (MP4 3021 kb)

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Geerts, S., van der Linden, J. & van der Linden, E. The ecology and foraging behaviour of the harvester termite, Baucaliotermes hainesi in semi-arid grasslands in the northwestern interior of South Africa. Insect. Soc. 63, 457–465 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-016-0488-9

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