Pretoria - With climate change bringing warmer temperatures and changing weather patterns across the globe, one of the Earth’s greatest allies may be found in the tiny insect known as the termite.
This is according to an international study which has revealed that termites are more than just an irritating wood-eating insect, and are pivotal in contributing positively to the Earth’s carbon cycle.
The study, championed by the University of Miami, with contributions from the University of Pretoria, sought to investigate termite and microbial wood discovery and decay.
While most people may think termites are a nuisance, consuming wood in homes and businesses, researchers have found that termites, which represent less than 4% of all insect species worldwide, are critical in natural ecosystems, especially in the tropics, because they help recycle dead wood from trees.
Without such “decayers”, the environment would be piled high with dead plants and animals.
Miami University’s chair of tropical ecology in the Department of Biology, Professor Amy Zanne, said not only did researchers discover that termites were crucial to breaking down wood and contributing to the Earth’s carbon cycle, but they also discovered that termites were significantly sensitive to temperature and rainfall.
Zanne said this meant that as temperatures rose, the insects’ roles in wood decay would likely expand beyond the tropics, taking into consideration that temperatures were warming across the globe, so the impact of termites on the planet could be huge.
The academic said termites release carbon from the wood as methane and carbon dioxide, two of the most important greenhouse gases, therefore, termites may increasingly contribute to protective greenhouse-gas emissions with climate change.
Greenhouse gases are known to be crucial to keeping the planet at a suitable temperature for life. Without the natural greenhouse effect, the heat emitted by the Earth passes outwards from the Earth’s surface into space.
Pretoria News