Global production of methane by termites

Abstract

Widespread destruction of forests and their replacement by grasslands may provide suitable habitats for termites, leading to an increase in their population and thus also in the production of methane¹. We have carried out an experiment to verify the role of termites in the global methane cycle and to identify the uncertainties inherent in such global extrapolations of laboratory data. We found that termites are indeed a potentially significant source of atmospheric methane with an estimated global prodution of about 50 × 10¹² g yr⁻¹; however, the uncertainties in global estimates are so large (10–100 × 10¹² g yr⁻¹) that it cannot yet be proved that termites play an important role in the global methane cycle. Our calculations show that the production of CH₄ by termites is probably <15% of the global yearly emissions.