Matsumoto Tadao, Abe Takuya
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Fukazawa, Setagaya-Ku, 158, Tokyo, Japan.
Department of Biology, Science and Engineering Division, University of the Ryukyus, 903, Naha, Okinawa, Japan.
Oecologia. 1979 Jan;38(3):261-274. doi: 10.1007/BF00345187.
To estimate the rate of consumption of leaf litter by termites on the forest floor of Pasoh Forest Reserve, Negeri Sembilan, West Malaysia, newly fallen leaves were marked and distributed on the ground. The loss of leaf area due to termites was determined either photometrically or visually. An average of 1.70% of the total surface area of the leaf litter disappeared per week in experiment 1 and 1.25% in experiment 2 in Plot 1, and 2.9% per day in other plots located near the mounds of Macrotermes carbonarius. The amount of leaf litter accumulation in the Ao layer was estimated at about 2.3 t/ha at Plot 1, so it was likely that an amount equivalent to about 32% of the daily leaf-litter fall was transported by M. carbonarius to their mounds in experiment 1 and 22% in experiment 2. It was considered that the termites had an important role in the detritus food chain of the ecosystem.
为了估算马来西亚西部森美兰州峇株巴辖森林保护区林地上白蚁消耗落叶层的速率，新落下的树叶被标记并散布在地面上。通过光度测量法或目视法确定因白蚁造成的叶面积损失。在实验1中，1号样地落叶层总表面积平均每周消失1.70%，实验2中为1.25%；在靠近黑翅土白蚁蚁丘的其他样地，每天消失2.9%。在1号样地，A0层落叶层的积累量估计约为2.3吨/公顷，因此在实验1中，黑翅土白蚁可能将相当于每日落叶量约32%的落叶运到它们的蚁丘，实验2中为22%。据认为，白蚁在生态系统的碎屑食物链中起着重要作用。
