Termite sensitivity to temperature affects global wood decay rates.
Amy E ZanneHabacuc Flores-MorenoJeff R PowellWilliam K CornwellJames William DallingAmy T AustinAimée T ClassenPaul EggletonKei-Ichi OkadaCatherine L ParrE Carol AdairStephen Adu-BreduMd Azharul AlamCarolina Alvarez-GarzónDeborah Mattos Guimarães ApgauaRoxana AragónMarcelo ArdonStefan K ArndtLouise Amy AshtonNicholas A BarberJacques BeauchêneMatty P BergJason BeringerMatthias M BoerJosé Antonio BonetKatherine BunneyTynan J BurkhardtDulcinéia CarvalhoDennis Castillo-FigueroaLucas A CernusakAlexander W CheesmanTainá M Cirne-SilvaJamie R CleverlyJohannes H C CornelissenTimothy J CurranAndré M D'AngioliCaroline DallstreamHéctor J AguadoFidele Evouna OndoAlex FajardoRomina D FernandezAstrid FerrerMarco Aurélio Leite FontesMark L GalatowitschGrizelle GonzálezFelix GottschallPeter R GraceElena GrandaHannah M GriffithsMariana Guerra LaraMotohiro HasegawaMariet M HeftingNina Hinko-NajeraLindsay B HutleyJennifer JonesAnja KahlMirko KaranJoost A KeuskampTim LardnerMichael LiddellCraig MacfarlaneCate Macinnis-NgRavi F MarianoM Soledad MéndezWayne S MeyerAkira S MoriAloysio S MouraMatthew NorthwoodRomà OgayaRafael Silva OliveiraAlberto OrgiazziJuliana PardoGuillermo PegueroJosep PenuelasLuis I PerezJuan M PosadaCecilia M PradaTomáš PřívětivýSuzanne M ProberJonathan PrunierGabriel W QuansahVictor Resco de DiosRonny RichterMark P RobertsonLucas Fernandes RochaMegan A RúaCarolina SarmientoRichard P SilbersteinMateus C SilvaFlávia Freire SiqueiraMatthew Glenn StillwagonJacqui StolMelanie K TaylorFrançois P TesteDavid Yue Phin TngDavid TuckerManfred TürkeMichael D UlyshenOscar J Valverde-BarrantesEduardo van den BergRichard S P van LogtestijnG F Ciska VeenJason G VogelTimothy J WardlawGeorg WiehlChristian WirthMichaela J WoodsPaul-Camilo ZalameaPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2022)
Deadwood is a large global carbon store with its store size partially determined by biotic decay. Microbial wood decay rates are known to respond to changing temperature and precipitation. Termites are also important decomposers in the tropics but are less well studied. An understanding of their climate sensitivities is needed to estimate climate change effects on wood carbon pools. Using data from 133 sites spanning six continents, we found that termite wood discovery and consumption were highly sensitive to temperature (with decay increasing >6.8 times per 10°C increase in temperature)-even more so than microbes. Termite decay effects were greatest in tropical seasonal forests, tropical savannas, and subtropical deserts. With tropicalization (i.e., warming shifts to tropical climates), termite wood decay will likely increase as termites access more of Earth's surface.