Fine-scale spatial distribution of &ITmurundus &ITstructures in th semi-arid region of Brazil

De Souza, Henrique J. , Delabie, Jacques H. C.

2018-05-01 AUSTRAL ECOLOGY 2018   43(卷), 3(期), (268-279页)

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Murundus arc earth mounds widespread in most landscapes in the semi-arid region of Brazil. Evidence obtained from predictive modelling has suggested a termite origin for these structures, opening up new opportunities for further research. Distribution of densely packed murundus at larger spatial scales is most related to climatic regime and soil nutrient availability. However, factors and processes underlying their distribution and density at smaller spatial scales are not yet fully understood. In this study, we adopted an approach based on mapping point data using high-resolution satellite imagery, multi-scale second-order analysis and general linear models to examine the fine-scale spatial distribution and density of murundus. Our results suggest that the distribution of those structures within densely packed areas is regulated by more than one process acting or interacting across multiple spatial scales. All densely packed murundus showed a significant regular distribution at the distance scale of up to 50 m radially and a completely random distribution across all other upper distance scales. We interpret the regular pattern as a result of competition for foraging territories between different termite colonies during the process formation of densely packed murundus. The random pattern at larger distance scales (above 50 m radially) can be attributed to habitat selection preferences by termite species builders of murundus mediated by local environmental resources and conditions (i.e. availability of food resources and nesting and open habitat), which would be randomly distributed in space. Thus, at finer spatial scales murundus distributions are associated with biotic interactions acting on an abiotic template. On the basis of significant linear correlations , we suggest that the density of murundus is strongly related to local temperature regime with soil-type influencing its effect on the murundus densities. Our findings provide novel evidences that mound-building termites are involved in the formation of murundus in the semi-arid region of Brazil.