Effects of Eucalyptus Plantation on Termites in Dead Wood on the Forest Floor

Expansion of Eucalyptus plantation is considered to be one of the major human disturbances to tropical forests, where termites are superabundant and an important decomposer. Here we studied the biomass of dead wood and the abundance and species composition of termites in dead wood in Eucalyptus plantation forest (EF) in Thailand and compared the data with those of the neighboring dry evergreen forest (DEF), which has been previously studied. The biomass of dead wood was much lower in the EF, especially for the dead wood with large diameters (≥ 5 cm). Although the abundance of termites (termites m) was quite different, the abundance of termites per unit weight of dead wood (termites kg) was not different between the two forests, suggesting that the importance of termites in the decomposition is same in these forests. In the EF, however, we did not find the termite species that have been collected in the DEF from the dead wood with large diameters (≥ 5 cm). Eucalyptus plantation may affect termite assemblages through the changes of dead wood biomass on the forest floor both quantitatively and qualitatively.