title: A phylogenetic community approach for studying termite communities in a West African savannah.
abstract: Termites play fundamental roles in tropical ecosystems, and mound-building species in particular are crucial in enhancing species diversity, from plants to mammals. However, it is still unclear which factors govern the occurrence and assembly of termite communities. A phylogenetic community approach and null models of species assembly were used to examine structuring processes associated with termite community assembly in a pristine savannah. Overall, we did not find evidence for a strong influence of interspecific competition or environmental filtering in structuring these communities. However, the presence of a single species, the mound-building termite Macrotermes bellicosus, left a strong signal on structuring and led to clustered communities of more closely related species. Hence, this species changes the assembly rules for a whole community. Our results show the fundamental importance of a single insect species for community processes, suggesting that more attention to insect species is warranted when developing conservation strategies.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Biology, University of Osnabrück, Barbarastrasse 11, 49076 Osnabrück, Germany.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hausberger
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Biology, University of Osnabrück, Barbarastrasse 11, 49076 Osnabrück, Germany Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, University of Freiburg, Hauptstrasse 1, 79104 Freiburg, Germany judith.korb@biologie.uni-freiburg.de.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Korb
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001541:Benin; D017753:Ecosystem; D065948:Grassland; D020049:Isoptera / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny
keywords: community assembly; competition; habitat filtering; neutral theory; savannah; termites