niche opportunities for a variety of plants, other animals and microorganisms.
These roles parallel those of earthworms in
temperate (and some tropical) ecosystems, but this comparison
remains speculative in most cases and there is a clear paucity of
information on the influence of termites, especially if compared to
the large amount of information available on the impact of earthworms
on soil bioturbation [8].
In semi-arid African and Asian environments termite diversity is
often dominated in terms of abundance and activity by fungusgrowing
species (sub-family Macrotermitinae) [37]. Most studies
on the influence of fungus-growing termites on soil dynamics have
been carried out in Africa, but much less information is available in
Asia. Fungus-growing termites are also abundant in Asia, and more
research on their impact on soil dynamics is therefore needed. Most
reports compared termite mound materials, and sometimes fungus