Citation:

PANGAEA.827696, Supplement to: Grohmann, C (2010): Termite mediated heterogeneity of soil and vegetation patternsin a semi‐arid savanna ecosystem in Namibia = Einfluss von Termiten auf Vegetations- und Bodenmuster eines semi-ariden Savannenökosystems in Namibia [dissertation]. Julius‐Maximilians‐Universität Würzburg, 100 pp, urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-54318

Name: Table 1: Main characteristics of the BIOTA observatories included in this study & Table 3: Occurrence of termite taxa at the observatories
Creator: Constanze Grohmann
Published: 2014-01-26
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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Published: 2014-01-26 • DOI registered: 2014-02-23

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Abstract:

Termites are the most important soil ecosystem engineers of semi‐arid and arid habitats. They enhance decomposition processes as well as the subsequent mineralisation of nutrients by bacteria and fungi. Through their construction of galleries, nests and mounds, they promote soil turnover and influence the distribution of nutrients and also alter texture and hydrological properties of soils, thereby affecting the heterogeneity of their ecosystem.

The main aim of the present thesis was to define the impact of termites on ecosys‐tem functioning in a semi‐arid ecosystem. In a baseline study, I assessed the diversity of termite taxa in relation to the amount of precipitation, the vegetation patterns and the land use systems at several sites in Namibia. Subsequently, I focussed on a species that is highly abundant in many African savannas, the fungus growing and mound building species Macro‐termes michaelseni (Sjöstedt, 1914). I asked how this species influences the spatial hetero‐geneity of soil and vegetation patterns. From repeated samplings at 13 sites in Namibia, I obtained 17 termite taxa of 15 genera. While the type of land use seems to have a minor effect on the termite fauna, the mean annual precipitation explained 96% and the Simpson index of vascular plant diversity 81% of the variation in taxa diversity. The number of termite taxa increased with both of these explanation variables.

In contrast to former studies on Macrotermes mounds in several regions of Africa that I reviewed, soil analyses from M. michaelseni mounds in the central Namibian savanna revealed that they contain much higher nitrogen contents when compared to their parent material. Further analyses revealed that nitrate forms a major component of the nitrogen content in termite mounds. As nitrate solves easily in water, evaporation processes are most probably responsible for the transport of solved nitrates to the mound surface and their accumulation there. The analysed mounds in central Namibia contained higher sand propor‐tions compared to the mounds of the former studies. Through the higher percentage of coarse and middle sized pores, water moves more easily in sandy soils compared to more clayey soils. In consequence, evaporation‐driven nitrate accumulation can occur in the studied mounds at high rates. ff...

Project(s):

BIOdiversity Monitoring Transect Analysis in Africa (BIOTA)

Coverage:

Median Latitude: -22.573077 * Median Longitude: 16.936923 * South-bound Latitude: -26.400000 * West-bound Longitude: 14.730000 * North-bound Latitude: -18.300000 * East-bound Longitude: 19.260000

Minimum ELEVATION: 188 m a.s.l. * Maximum ELEVATION: 1865 m a.s.l.

Event(s):

Namibia * Latitude: -22.500000 * Longitude: 17.200000 * Location: Namibia, Africa

Comment:

r: rare occurrence of the taxon at the Observatory; i.e. the taxon was not found during the standardized sampling, but during additional sampling.

Parameter(s):

#	Name	Short Name	Unit	Principal Investigator	Comment
1	LATITUDE	Latitude			Geocode
2	LONGITUDE	Longitude			Geocode
3	ELEVATION	Elevation	m a.s.l.		Geocode
4	Biome	Biome		Grohmann, Constanze
5	Subtransect	Subtransect		Grohmann, Constanze
6	Name	Name		Grohmann, Constanze
7	Abbreviation	Abbrev		Grohmann, Constanze
8	Temperature, air, annual mean	MAAT	°C	Grohmann, Constanze	based on global interpolations, mostly from WorldClim (Hijmans et al. 2005; see http://www.worldclim.org) for the period 1950-2000
9	Temperature, annual range	ATR	°C	Grohmann, Constanze	Difference in the mean temperature between the coldest and the warmest month
10	Precipitation, annual mean	MAP	mm	Grohmann, Constanze	based on global interpolations, mostly from WorldClim (Hijmans et al. 2005; see http://www.worldclim.org) for the period 1950-2000
11	Precipitation, seasonality	Precip season	%	Grohmann, Constanze	Variability of the precipitation among the means of the 12 months, expressed as coefficient of variation
12	Simpson index of diversity	Simpson I		Grohmann, Constanze
13	Land use	Land use		Grohmann, Constanze
14	Land use	Land use		Grohmann, Constanze
15	Trinervitermes sp.	Trinervitermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
16	Rhadinotermes sp.	Rhadinotermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
17	Fulleritermes sp.	Fulleritermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
18	Baucaliotermes hainesi	B. hainesi		Grohmann, Constanze
19	Promirotermes sp.	Promirotermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
20	Microcerotermes sp.	Microcerotermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
21	Lepidotermes sp.	Lepidotermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
22	Angulitermes sp.	Angulitermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
23	Amitermes sp.	Amitermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
24	Odontotermes sp.	Odontotermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
25	Odontotermes okahandjae	O. okahandjae		Grohmann, Constanze
26	Odontotermes okahandjae	O. okahandjae		Grohmann, Constanze
27	Microtermes sp.	Microtermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
28	Macrotermes sp.	Macrotermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
29	Allodontermes sp.	Allodontermes sp.		Grohmann, Constanze
30	Psammotermes allocerus	P. allocerus		Grohmann, Constanze
31	Hodotermes mossambicus	H. mossambicus		Grohmann, Constanze

License:

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC-BY-3.0)

Size:

362 data points

Data

Download dataset as tab-delimited text — use the following character encoding:

1 Latitude	2 Longitude	3 Elevation [m a.s.l.]	4 Biome	5 Subtransect	6 Name	7 Abbrev	8 MAAT [°C] (based on global interpolation...)	9 ATR [°C] (Difference in the mean temper...)	10 MAP [mm] (based on global interpolation...)	11 Precip season [%] (Variability of the precipitat...)	12 Simpson I	13 Land use	14 Land use	15 Trinervitermes sp.	16 Rhadinotermes sp.	17 Fulleritermes sp.	18 B. hainesi	19 Promirotermes sp.	20 Microcerotermes sp.	21 Lepidotermes sp.	22 Angulitermes sp.	23 Amitermes sp.	24 Odontotermes sp.	25 O. okahandjae	26 O. okahandjae	27 Microtermes sp.	28 Macrotermes sp.	29 Allodontermes sp.	30 P. allocerus	31 H. mossambicus
-18.30	19.25	1180	Woodland Savanna	N	01 Mile 46	M46	22.200	9.6	536	106	0.92	Research farming for cattle breeding	Low	v	-	v	-	v	r	-	-	-	r	-	-	v	-	v	v	v
-18.30	19.26	1180	Woodland Savanna	N	02 Mutompo	MTP	22.200	9.7	536	106	0.90	Cattle grazing	High	v	-	v	-	v	v	-	-	v	v	-	-	r	-	v	v	v
-21.50	16.73	1519	Thornbush Savanna	N	04 Toggekry	TOG	19.100	9.8	394	110	0.77	Farming with game for hunting	Medium	v	v	-	-	-	-	-	r	-	-	v	-	v	v	-	-	v
-21.60	16.94	1495	Thornbush Savanna	N	05 Otjiamongombe	OTJ	19.300	9.8	396	106	0.85	Farming with cattle and game for hunting	Medium	v	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	v	v	v	v	v	-	v
-23.12	16.90	1624	Nama Karoo	N	39 Narais	NRS	18.600	10.8	289	108	0.79	Farming with cattle	Low	v	-	-	-	-	-	-	v	v	-	v	-	-	-	-	v	v
-23.13	16.90	1614	Nama Karoo	N	40 Duruchaus	DRS	18.600	10.9	287	112	0.76	Farming with cattle and goats	Medium	r	-	-	-	-	-	-	r	v	-	v	-	-	-	-	v	v
-26.40	18.00	1099	Nama Karoo	N	10 Gellap Ost	GLP	20.500	12.9	153	106	0.67	Farming with sheep, cattle and horses	Medium	-	-	-	v	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	v	v
-26.39	18.00	1045	Nama Karoo	S	11 Nabaos	NBS	20.800	12.9	146	103	0.62	Farming with goats, sheep and donkeys	High	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	v	r
-22.99	14.73	188	Namib Desert	W	34 Kleinberg	KBG	17.600	5.6	16	90		Conservation area	None	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
-22.53	15.05	419	Namib Desert	W	35 Gobabeb	GBB	20.900	6.6	21	84		Conservation area	None	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	v	-
-23.12	15.54	995	Namib Desert	W	36 Ganab	GNB	19.500	7.0	129	130	0.60	Conservation area	None	v	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	v	-	-	-	-	-	-	v	v
-23.29	16.10	1160	Thornbush Savanna	W	37 Rooisand	RSD	19.500	8.5	200	125	0.77	Conservation area	Medium	v	-	-	-	-	-	v	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	v	v
-22.78	16.78	1865	Thornbush Savanna	E	38 Claratal	CTL	17.900	10.1	335	110	0.90	Farming with cattle and gane for hunting	Medium	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-