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Termite diversity and complexity in Vietnamese agroecosystems along a gradient of increasing disturbance

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Abstract

The rapid development of the Vietnamese coffee industry caused widespread deforestation, land degradation, desertification, and soil and water degradation in the late 1990s. However, little is known about the impact of intensification of coffee farming on arthropod diversity in Vietnamese coffee agroecosystems. We conducted an in-depth study of the termite presence in five land-uses along a gradient of increased land-use intensity in the Central Highlands of Vietnam: mixed deciduous forest (MF), secondary forest (SF), planted pine forest (PF), rubber plantation (RP), and coffee plantations (CP). The estimated number of termite species decreased along the land-use gradient. In coffee agroecosystems, the termite species richness was 20–50 % lower than that of the forested areas and monoculture rubber plantation. In terms of beta diversity, the termite faunal composition in CP was significantly separated from those of the other land-uses, in which the similarity was only 28.67 %. Litter depth, canopy cover, and wood basal area were positively associated with the termite communities present in MF and SF, whereas the termite community in PF was positively associated with soil bulk density, leaf litter, and understory vegetation. The ecological characteristics in RP and CP appeared to be negatively associated with wood basal area, leaf litter, and understory vegetation where well represented by Ancistrotermes pakistanicus (Ahmad). The sites also supported a few soil-feeding termites [e.g., Dicuspiditermes garthwaitei (Gardner), Pericapritermes latignathus (Holmgren), and Pseudocapritermes sinensis Ping and Xu in RP; only D. garthwaitei in CP].

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Yoko Takematsu (Yamaguchi University) for assistance in identifying termite specimens and three anonymous reviewers whose comments greatly improved the manuscript. This study was supported by the Large-Scale Research Program ‘Promoting the Study of Sustainable Humanosphere in Southeast Asia’ funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), 2011–2016. K.-B.N. was an international research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and L.-J.B. was a mission researcher of the Research Institute for Sustainable Humonosphere, Kyoto University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Entomology, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Guoguang Rd., Taichung, 40227, Taiwan

    Kok-Boon Neoh

  2. Laboratory of Innovative Humano-habitability, Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto, 611-0011, Japan

    Kok-Boon Neoh, Lee-Jin Bong & Tsuyoshi Yoshimura

  3. Institute of Ecology and Works Protection, Chua Boc, Dong Da District, Hanoi, Vietnam

    My Thi Nguyen, Vuong Tan Nguyen & Huy Quoc Nguyen

  4. Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, 46 Shimoadachi-cho, Yoshida Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

    Masayuki Itoh & Osamu Kozan

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  1. Kok-Boon Neoh
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  2. Lee-Jin Bong
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  3. My Thi Nguyen
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  4. Vuong Tan Nguyen
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  5. Huy Quoc Nguyen
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  6. Masayuki Itoh
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  8. Tsuyoshi Yoshimura
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Correspondence to Kok-Boon Neoh.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

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Table 3 The relative abundance of termite assemblages in five land-use types in DakLak, Central Highlands of Vietnam
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Neoh, KB., Bong, LJ., Nguyen, M.T. et al. Termite diversity and complexity in Vietnamese agroecosystems along a gradient of increasing disturbance. J Insect Conserv 19, 1129–1139 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-015-9828-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-015-9828-8

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