Influence of termites on the soil seed bank in an African savannah
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Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wiley
Abstract
In savannah ecosystems, termites drive key ecosystem processes, such as primary
production through creation of patchiness in soil nutrients availability around their
nests. In this study, we evaluated the role of termites in altering the soil seed bank
size, an important ecosystem component that has often been overlooked in previous
work. Data on above ground vegetation and soil seed bank samples were collected
from four microhabitats, that is, the wooded mound, unwooded mound, tree sub‐
canopy and the open grassland matrix in a protected game reserve in south‐central
Zimbabwe. The seedling emergence method was then used to identify species present in the soil samples. One‐way analysis of variance followed by Tukey's multiple
comparison tests was executed to test for significant differences in plant species
richness among the four microhabitats. The results indicate that plant species richness was high on wooded termite mound but did not differ between the unwooded
and the sub‐canopy microhabitats.
Description
Keywords
Microhabitats, Seedling density, Africa, Ecosystems, Climate
Citation
Masocha, M., & Dube, T. (2018). Influence of termites on the soil seed bank in an African savannah. African Journal of Ecology, 57 (1), 76-81. https://doi.org/10.1111/aje.12554