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 t...

可可（Cocoa）是加纳经济的重要支柱作物，贡献了该国国内生产总值（Gross Domestic Product，GDP）的25%。然而，该作物主要种植于森林衍生土壤之上，同时也是土地利用变化的主要诱因之一。白蚁（Termites）是热带生态系统的重要生物组成部分，可提供多种生态系统服务。既往研究表明，白蚁对森林干扰较为敏感，在土地利用强度梯度下其物种丰富度与种群丰度均会下降，进而影响其提供的核心生态系统服务。本土遮荫树常被用于改善可可种植条件，或可缓解土地利用变化对生物多样性部分维度的不利影响。因此，本研究旨在探究加纳卡库姆国家公园（Kakum National Park）及周边可可农场的遮荫树梯度下，白蚁对土地利用变化的响应模式，该梯度涵盖树木覆盖率80%的森林、无遮荫的可可种植园乃至极端耕地。本研究推测……