PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 6 (UPI) — Understanding the role termites and other ground-dwelling animals play in influencing and potentially preserving ecosystems like the drylands of semi-arid climates is vital but difficult.
But as researchers at Princeton University recently found out, one of the issues with studying the role of termite mounds — as they relate to the transition of semi-arid ecosystems to full-on deserts — is that the structured pattern of termite mound-encouraged greenery and the design of plant-life organized by diminishing rain totals are very similar.
Each of these patterns feature small organized circles of greenery, a polka-dot design with round splotches of plant life backed by dry soil.
And in-depth analysis of these patterns showed both mechanisms can be at play simultaneously. Researchers found that while small circles of well-patterned plant life in otherwise dry regions may be a sign that an ecosystem is on its last legs (just years from desertification), the same pattern could also mean termite mounds have helped ward off the drying effects of climate change.
Because scientists often study the process of desertification via satellite imagery, these patterns and the mechanisms behind them can be easily confused.
As Princeton researchers confirmed, tunnels created by termites help aerate the dry soil and enable the penetration of water and the buildup of important nutrients. As a result, plants grab hold around termite hills and can thrive.
“The rain is the same everywhere, but because termites allow water to penetrate the soil better, the plants grow on or near the mounds as if there were more rain,” Corina Tarnita, Princeton researcher and co-author of a new study on the subject, explained in a press release.
“The vegetation on and around termite mounds persists longer and declines slower,” Tarnita added. “Even when you get to such harsh conditions where vegetation disappears from the mounds, re-vegetation is still easier. As long as the mounds are there, the ecosystem has a better chance to recover.”
So what might appear to be an ecosystem on the brink of desertification, may actually be a semi-arid portion of land fighting off the effects of climate change via elaborate, nutrient-fortified termite mounds.
“The coexistence of multiple patterns at these scales makes ecosystems more robust and less prone to collapse, and that is the significance of this study,” said Jef Huisman, microbiology at the University of Amsterdam who recently reviewed the findings but did not participate in the study. “In that sense, we have to adjust our models for drylands because these ecosystems are much more resistant to desertification than we previously believed.”
The research of Tarnita and her colleagues was done in Africa, but the scientists say the findings are applicable to other places where climate change is encouraging the expansion of the desert — in South America and in the American Southwest.
The study was published this week in the journal Science.
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