Termites and the turnover of dead wood in an arid tropical environment
- 31 December 1980
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Nature in Oecologia
- Vol. 51 (3) , 379-384
- https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00540909
Abstract
The standing crop of woody litter (317 g m-2) and its rate of production (30.8 g m-2 a-1) and disappearance (27.8 g m-2 a-1) were measured in Tsavo National Park, Kenya, at a site with a mean rainfall of 352 mm a-1. Dead wood took about 11 years to disappear completely. Almost all of this wood is removed by termites, 90% by the fungus-cultivating subfamily Macrotermitinae.Keywords
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