title: Top-down network analysis characterizes hidden termite-termite interactions.
abstract: The analysis of ecological networks is generally bottom-up, where networks are established by observing interactions between individuals. Emergent network properties have been indicated to reflect the dominant mode of interactions in communities that might be mutualistic (e.g., pollination) or antagonistic (e.g., host-parasitoid communities). Many ecological communities, however, comprise species interactions that are difficult to observe directly. Here, we propose that a comparison of the emergent properties from detail-rich reference communities with known modes of interaction can inform our understanding of detail-sparse focal communities. With this top-down approach, we consider patterns of coexistence between termite species that live as guests in mounds built by other host termite species as a case in point. Termite societies are extremely sensitive to perturbations, which precludes determining the nature of their interactions through direct observations. We perform a literature review to construct two networks representing termite mound cohabitation in a Brazilian savanna and in the tropical forest of Cameroon. We contrast the properties of these cohabitation networks with a total of 197 geographically diverse mutualistic plant-pollinator and antagonistic host-parasitoid networks. We analyze network properties for the networks, perform a principal components analysis (PCA), and compute the Mahalanobis distance of the termite networks to the cloud of mutualistic and antagonistic networks to assess the extent to which the termite networks overlap with the properties of the reference networks. Both termite networks overlap more closely with the mutualistic plant-pollinator communities than the antagonistic host-parasitoid communities, although the Brazilian community overlap with mutualistic communities is stronger. The analysis raises the hypothesis that termite-termite cohabitation networks may be overall mutualistic. More broadly, this work provides support for the argument that cryptic communities may be analyzed via comparison to well-characterized communities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology Pennsylvania State University 208 Mueller Laboratory University Park Pennsylvania 16802; Department of Physics Pennsylvania State University 122 Davey Laboratory University Park Pennsylvania 16802; Department of Physics Washington College Chestertown Maryland 21620.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology Pennsylvania State University 208 Mueller Laboratory University Park Pennsylvania 16802; Department of Entomology Cornell University 3126 Comstock Hall Ithaca New York 14853.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology Pennsylvania State University 208 Mueller Laboratory University Park Pennsylvania 16802.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marins
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Entomologia Universidade Federal de Viçosa Viçosa MG 36570-000 Brazil.
authors.forename: Og
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: DeSouza
authors.affiliation: Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Natural Environment Research Council Maclean Building Benson Lane Crowmarsh Gifford Wallingford Oxfordshire OX10 8BB UK.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schönrogge
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences Pennsylvania State University 422 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building University Park Pennsylvania 16802.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology Pennsylvania State University 501 ASI Building University Park Pennsylvania 16802.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tooker
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology Pennsylvania State University 208 Mueller Laboratory University Park Pennsylvania 16802; Department of Physics Pennsylvania State University 122 Davey Laboratory University Park Pennsylvania 16802.
authors.forename: Réka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Albert
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology Pennsylvania State University 208 Mueller Laboratory University Park Pennsylvania 16802.
authors.forename: Katriona
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shea
keywords: Antagonism; community interactions; host–parasitoid; inquilines; mound; mutualism; network structure; plant; pollinator; termite