Termites and methane (reply)

Genesis of acetate and methane by gut bacteria of nutritionally diverse termites.

The evolution of different feeding guilds in termites is paralleled by differences in the activity of their gut microbiota. In wood-feeding termites, carbon dioxide-reducing acetogenic bacteria were found to generally outprocess carbon dioxide-reducing methanogenic bacteria for reductant (presumably hydrogen) generated during microbial fermentation in the hindgut. By contrast, acetogenesis from...

Termites

Termites (Isoptera) are plagued by bad press. They destroy the livelihood of tropical farmers, literally eat their way through our homes, and even threaten our cultural heritage, including assaults on the Statue of Liberty in New York, the ancient books of the Vatican, or the historical city of Isfahan in Iran. One estimate from 2005 put the annual damage at about US$ 50 billion worldwide, with...

Termites and Ecosystem Function

The several ways termites interact with the plant-soil-litter system are outlined in a conceptual web of pathways to show how distinct actions of termites may impact ecosystem functioning, either positively or negatively. That is, because of their several modes of feeding and nesting, termites may act as agents of decomposition or pedogenesis, pests, competitors of grazing livestock, or as sour...

The Authors’ Reply

The Authors’ Reply