Termite diversity is resilient to land-use change

Cocoa is an important crop for Ghana’s economy, contributing 25% of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). The crop, however, is mainly cultivated on
forest-derived soils and is a major cause of land-use change. Termites are
an important biological component of tropical ecosystems providing
numerous ecosystem services. Previous studies have indicated that termites
are sensitive to forest disturbance and decrease in richness and abundance
across land-use intensification gradients, with consequences for the
essential services that they provide. Native shade trees are often used to
improve cocoa cultivation and may reduce the detrimental effects of
land-use change on some aspects of biodiversity. The aim of this study was
therefore to explore how termites respond to land-use change along a
shade-tree gradient in Kakum National Park and surrounding cocoa farms in
Ghana (from forest at 80% tree cover to cocoa with no shade cover, to the
extreme of cultivated arable crop land). It was predicted that termite
richness and abundance would decrease with decreasing shade cover, and
with increasing distance from the forest edge. Thirty-four species from 29
genera were sampled, with Ancistrotermes crucifer being found in all the
locations (47% of all encounters). Species richness and abundance differed
marginally across the land-use gradient, as well as the distance from the
forest edge, however, species richness did not show any significance with
distance. All the same, termite communities were robust to the
disturbance. Our findings suggest that though site influenced species
richness and abundance, cocoa trees can play a crucial role in maintaining
biodiversity and environmental quality in an agricultural landscape by
providing a habitat for forest species that are not found in pastures or
farm fields. However, we caution that the relatively low forest baseline
of existing forest diversity may inflate the value of cocoa land, with
those forests no longer representing undisturbed natural habitats: this
highlights that shifting baselines may need to be accounted for when
interpreting findings in the Anthropocene.