☆ 4.7 Article

Diurnal and seasonal variations in CH4 flux from termite mounds in tropical savannas of the Northern Territory, Australia

AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY (2011)

Journal

AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY

Volume 151, Issue 11, Pages 1471-1479

Publisher

ELSEVIER

DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2010.06.009

Keywords

Termites; Savanna; Diurnal CH4 flux; Seasonal CH4 flux; Mound temperature; Mound water content

Funding

Australian Research Council [LP0774812]
Australian Research Council [LP0774812] Funding Source: Australian Research Council

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Abstract

Termites are estimated to contribute between <5 and 19% of the global methane (CH4) emissions. These estimates have large uncertainties because of the limited number of field-based studies and species studied, as well as issues of diurnal and seasonal variations. We measured CH4 fluxes from four common mound-building termite species (Microcerotermes nervosus, M. serratus,Tumulitermes pastinator and Amitermes darwini) diurnally and seasonally in tropical savannas in the Northern Territory, Australia. Our results showed that there were significant diel and seasonal variations of CH4 emissions from termite mounds and we observed large species specific differences. On a diurnal basis. CH4 fluxes were least at the coolest time of the day (similar to 07.00 h) and greatest at the warmest (similar to 15.00 h) for all species for both wet and dry seasons. We observed a strong and significant positive correlation between CH4 flux and mound temperature for all species. A mound excavation experiment demonstrated that the positive temperature effect on CH4 emissions was not related to termite movement in and out of a mound but probably a direct effect of temperature on methanogenesis in the termite gut. Fluxes in the wet season were 5-26-fold greater than those in the dry season. A multiple stepwise regression model including mound temperature and mound water content described 70-99% of the seasonal variations in CH4 fluxes for different species. CH4 fluxes from M. nervosus, which was the most abundant mound-building termite species at our sites, had significantly lower fluxes than the other three species measured. Our data demonstrate that CH4 flux estimates could result in large under- or over-estimation of CH4 emissions from termites if the diurnal, seasonal and species specific variations are not accounted for, especially when flux data are extrapolated to landscape scales. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Limited evidence of C4 plant consumption in mound building Macrotermes termites from savanna woodland chimpanzee sites

Seth Phillips, Rudolf H. Scheffrahn, Alex Piel, Fiona Stewart, Anthony Agbor, Gregory Brazzola, Alexander Tickle, Volker Sommer, Paula Dieguez, Erin G. Wessling, Mimi Arandjelovic, Hjalmar Kuhl, Christophe Boesch, Vicky M. Oelze

Summary: Stable isotope analysis is used to study the consumption of C-4 plant feeding termites by chimpanzees, but the diverse and cryptic nature of termites makes it difficult to assess their role as a C-4 resource. Carbon isotope values of Macrotermes termites were found to be similar to C-3 plants, with only a small proportion of their diet comprised of C-4 plants in chimpanzee habitats, indicating that they do not significantly impact consumer isotope signatures.

PLOS ONE (2021)