Small-scale variations in spider and springtail assemblages between termite mounds and the surrounding grassland matrix
| dc.contributor.author | Badenhorst, Hannelene | |
| dc.contributor.author | Haddad, Charles Richard | |
| dc.contributor.author | Janion-Scheepers, Charlene | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-04-23T21:52:53Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-04-23T21:52:53Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The snouted harvester termite (๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด (Sjรถstedt, 1911)) is a widespread grass-eating termite species that constructs thermoregulated dome-shaped mounds. However, little is known about the influence of these mounds on the arthropod assemblage structure in the surrounding grassland matrix, and whether the mounds represent ecological islands. Spiders and springtails are two ecologically important arthropod groups often associated with termites or their mounds. We investigated their assemblage composition inside and around active and abandoned T. trinervoides mounds in a central South African grassland. In total, 838 spiders (59 spp., 22 families) and 217 857 springtails (24 spp., 9 families) were collected from 96 pitfall traps, placed at four microhabitats in and around each of 12 active and 12 abandoned mounds during March 2019. The most abundant and species-rich spider families include the ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ (n = 270, 10 spp.), ๐ก๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ (n = 86, 7 spp.), ๐๐บ๐ค๐ฐ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ (n = 86, 6 spp.) and ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ (n = 77, 5 spp.), whereas the springtail fauna was dominated by ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ (n = 56 521, 1 species), ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ (n = 49 573, 7 species), ๐๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ (n = 44 491, 3 species), ๐๐ด๐ฐ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ (n = 32 288, 1 species) and ๐๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ณ๐บ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ (n = 26 216, 7 species). Indicator analysis showed that the spiders ๐ก๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช Tucker, 1923, ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ข๐จ๐ถ๐ด (Wesoลowska & Haddad, 2002) and ๐๐ค๐บ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ป๐ข๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฆ Purcell, 1904 are associated with abandoned mounds, but no springtails showed an association based on the IndVal analysis of the eight microhabitats (lumped data), even though the undescribed ๐๐บ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ถ๐ด sp. were mostly collected inside active mounds. The mounds thus had a negligible influence on the spatial distribution of springtails in the surrounding grassland. The different spider and springtail assemblages sampled indicate that both active and abandoned mounds function as ecological islands in grasslands, but that mound size does not affect their abundance or species richness in the different microhabitats sampled. | |
| dc.description.version | Publisher's version | |
| dc.identifier.citation | Badenhorst, H., Haddad, C. R., & Janion-Scheepers, C. (2024). Small-scale variations in spider and springtail assemblages between termite mounds and the surrounding grassland matrix. African Invertebrates, 65(2), 339-367. https://doi.org/10.3897/afrinvertebr.65.139404 | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 1681-5556 (print) | |
| dc.identifier.issn | 2305-2562 (online) | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://doi.org/10.3897/afrinvertebr.65.139404 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11660/13034 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Pensoft Publishers | |
| dc.rights.holder | Author(s) | |
| dc.rights.license | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
| dc.title | Small-scale variations in spider and springtail assemblages between termite mounds and the surrounding grassland matrix | |
| dc.type | Article |
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