especially abundant, the termitosphere comprises a large part of the soil column, challenged only by the functional domain of earthworms (the drilosphere). Termites have the abilities to forage over long distances (metres to tens of metres) and to partially control their own living environments through the creation of nest structures where the humidity and temperature remain constant throughout all seasons. This gives them a striking ability to remain active in harsh environ- ments, or during severe seasons, where most other soil macro- invertebrates are diminished or eliminated. For instance in arid and semi-arid tropical savannas, during the dry season termites remain virtually the only active group of invertebrate detritivores and bio- turbators, consequently dominating the decomposition processes [31,131] and the provision of essential ecosystem services [80]. Subjective assessments of the importance of termites, based on observations of their very high population densities are now sup- ported by a number of thorough studies which suggest they may represent 40e65% of the overall soil macrofaunal biomass in some biotopes [131]. Live biomass densities have been estimated to be from
70 to 110 kg ha 1 and from 510 to 1150 g of live weight in the largest
nests [12,131]. Abundances (all genera) can reach up to 15,000 ind m 2
(rarely, but densities between 2000 and 7000 ind m 2 are quite commonly reported), and individual nests can contain anything from