Termite sensitivity to temperature affects global wood decay rates

Journal Publication ResearchOnline@JCU
Zanne, Amy E.;Flores-Moreno, Habacuc;Powell, Jeff R.;Cornwell, William K.;Dalling, James W;Austin, Amy T.;Classen, Aimée T.;Eggleton, Paul;Okada, Kei-ichi;Parr, Catherine L.;Adair, E. Carol;Adu-Bredu, Stephen;Alam, Md Azharul;Alvarez-Garzón, Carolina;Apgaua, Deborah;Aragón, Roxana;Ardon, Marcelo;Arndt, Stefan K.;Ashton, Louise A.;Barber, Nicholas A.;Beauchêne, Jacques;Berg, Matty P.;Beringer, Jason;Boer, Matthias M.;Bonet, José Antonio;Bunney, Katherine;Burkhardt, Tynan J.;Carvalho, Dulcinéia;Castillo-Figueroa, Dennis;Cernusak, Lucas A.;Cheesman, Alexander W.;Cirne-Silva, Tainá M.;Cleverly, Jamie R.;Cornelissen, Johannes H.C.;Curran, Timothy J.;D'Angioli, André M.;Dallstream, Caroline;Eisenhauer, Nico;Evouna Ondo, Fidele;Fajardo, Alex;Fernandez, Romina D.;Ferrer, Astrid;Fontes, Marco A.L.;Galatowitsch, Mark L.;González, Grizelle;Gottschall, Felix;Grace, Peter R.;Granda, Elena;Griffiths, Hannah M.;Guerra Lara, Mariana;Hasegawa, Motohiro;Hefting, Mariet M.;Hinko-Najera, Nina;Hutley, Lindsay B.;Jones, Jennifer;Kahl, Anja;Karan, Mirko;Keuskamp, Joost A.;Lardner, Tim;Liddell, Michael;Macfarlane, Craig;Macinnis-Ng, Cate;Mariano, Ravi F.;Méndez, M. Soledad;Meyer, Wayne S.;Mori, Akira S.;Moura, Aloysio S.;Northwood, Matthew;Ogaya, Romà;Oliveira, Rafael S.;Orgiazzi, Alberto;Pardo, Juliana;Peguero, Guille;Penuelas, Josep;Perez, Luis I.;Posada, Juan M.;Prada, Cecilia M.;Přívětivý, Tomáš;Prober, Suzanne M.;Prunier, Jonathan;Quansah, Gabriel W.;Resco de Dios, Víctor;Richter, Ronny;Robertson, Mark P.;Rocha, Lucas F.;Rúa, Megan A.;Sarmiento, Carolina;Silberstein, Richard P.;Silva, Mateus C.;Siqueira, Flávia Freire;Stillwagon, Matthew Glenn;Stol, Jacqui;Taylor, Melanie K.;Teste, François P.;Tng, David Y.P.;Tucker, David;Türke, Manfred;Ulyshen, Michael D.;Valverde-Barrantes, Oscar J.;van den Berg, Eduardo;van Logtestijn, Richard S.P.;Veen, G.F. (Ciska);Vogel, Jason G.;Wardlaw, Timothy J.;Wiehl, Georg;Wirth, Christian;Woods, Michaela J.;Zalamea, Paul-Camilo
Lucas CernusakAlex CheesmanMichael Liddell
Abstract

Deadwood is a large global carbon store with its store size partially determined by biotic decay. Microbial wood decay rates are known to respond to changing temperature and precipitation. Termites are also important decomposers in the tropics but are less well studied. An understanding of their climate sensitivities is needed to estimate climate change effects on wood carbon pools. Using data from 133 sites spanning six continents, we found that termite wood discovery and consumption were highly sensitive to temperature (with decay increasing >6.8 times per 10°C increase in temperature)-even more so than microbes. Termite decay effects were greatest in tropical seasonal forests, tropical savannas, and subtropical deserts. With tropicalization (i.e., warming shifts to tropical climates), termite wood decay will likely increase as termites access more of Earth's surface.

Journal

Science

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Volume

377

ISBN/ISSN

1095-9203

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Issue

6613

Pages Count

5

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Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science

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DOI

10.1126/science.abo3856