New study on Mighty termite mounds

Photo Credit: Rob Pringle

The regular 'polka-dot' arrangement of termite mounds in East Africa boosts ecosystem productivity, researchers say.

Rob Pringle and his team found that plants grow more quickly and animals are more abundant around the subterranean mounds of termites (Odontotermes) in Kenya. This is because the fungus-cultivating creatures make the soil more moist and nutrient-rich than that of the surrounding dry savanna. The even spacing of the mounds (pictured as small red circles in satellite image) means that all points in the local landscape are relatively close to a mound, maximizing the ecosystem's productivity.

Simulated landscapes with randomly arranged mounds were less productive than those with regularly spaced mounds. N.G.