Influence of termites on ecosystem functioning. Ecosystem services provided by termites

As soil engineers, termites play a key role in the functioning of many tropical and subtropical ecosystems. This reviews assesses advances in our knowledge of the beneficial influences of termites on ecosystem functioning and services. Termites are amongst the main macroinvertebrate decomposers in arid and semi-arid environments, and exert additional impacts through the creation of biostructures (mounds, galleries, sheetings, etc...) with different soil physical and chemical properties. They influence the distribution of natural resources such as water and nutrients in the landscape and consequently the diversity of soil microbes, plants and animals. Surprisingly, considering the wide range of ecosystem services provided by termites, few researches have been reported on the utilization of termite activity for the management of soil fertility or for the rehabilitation of degraded soils. In our final section, we discuss the main obstacles hampering the development of such approaches and we suggest that ecosystems services provided by termites are not sufficiently appreciated, especially in the context of long-term processes and possible biotechnologies derived from a detailed knowledge of their biology. © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS.