Diet Segregation between Cohabiting Builder and Inquiline Termite Species

Abstract

How do termite inquilines manage to cohabit termitaria along with the termite builder species? With this in mind, we analysed one of the several strategies that inquilines could use to circumvent conflicts with their hosts, namely, the use of distinct diets. We inspected overlapping patterns for the diets of several cohabiting Neotropical termite species, as inferred from carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures for termite individuals. Cohabitant communities from distinct termitaria presented overlapping diet spaces, indicating that they exploited similar diets at the regional scale. When such communities were split into their components, full diet segregation could be observed between builders and inquilines, at regional (environment-wide) and local (termitarium) scales. Additionally, diet segregation among inquilines themselves was also observed in the vast majority of inspected termitaria. Inquiline species distribution among termitaria was not random. Environmental-wide diet similarity, coupled with local diet segregation and deterministic inquiline distribution, could denounce interactions for feeding resources. However, inquilines and builders not sharing the same termitarium, and thus not subject to potential conflicts, still exhibited distinct diets. Moreover, the areas of the builder’s diet space and that of its inquilines did not correlate negatively. Accordingly, the diet areas of builders which hosted inquilines were in average as large as the areas of builders hosting no inquilines. Such results indicate the possibility that dietary partitioning by these cohabiting termites was not majorly driven by current interactive constraints. Rather, it seems to be a result of traits previously fixed in the evolutionary past of cohabitants.

Diet is the primary determinant of bacterial community structure in the guts of higher termites

“…that cohabit the termitaria of other termites (Florencio et al . ), share gut microbiota with their respective host. A horizontal transmission of microbial symbionts, for example during territory defence, has been used to explain high similarities in the flagellate assemblages of Termopsidae and certain Rhinotermitidae ( Reticulitermes spp.…”

Top‐down network analysis characterizes hidden termite–termite interactions

“…Similarly, we know that some inquiline termite species fight members of the host species when confronted, despite adopting behaviors that lower their overall cost to their hosts (Florencio et al. ; Cristaldo et al. ).…”

“…In this report, we utilize this top-down approach to consider the characteristics of termite communities cohabiting termite mounds, the so-called "termite inquilines" sensu Araujo (1970). While the ubiquity of termitetermite associations, coupled with the stability of these associations during the lifespan of individual termites, suggests that negative interactions are largely avoided (Florencio et al 2013), the difficulty in directly observing termite interactions makes this challenging to quantify. Termites are hidden in confined spaces and become highly stressed when exposed; direct observation of their interactions is not possible.…”

Preservation Methods Alter Carbon and Nitrogen Stable Isotope Values in Crickets (Orthoptera: Grylloidea)

“…The relationships among different stable carbon ( 13 C/ 12 C, expressed as δ 13 C) and nitrogen ( 15 N/ 14 N, expressed as δ 15 N) isotopes are widely used to investigate dietary habits of animals in order to determine their respective feeding niches [5–11]. Stable isotopes are naturally available in the environment and are ingested while feeding, thus an animal’s isotopic composition is indicative of its feeding habits throughout life [12, 13].…”

“…A combination of 13 C/ 12 C and 15 N/ 14 N ratios is commonly used in animal studies to identify dietary composition, and to establish trophic position within both marine and terrestrial food webs [16–18]. Stable Isotope Analyses (SIA) has been used for studies of a broad scope of organisms, from unicellular phyto- and zooplankton [19], to seaweed [20, 21], higher plants [22], and several animal groups, including spiders [23], grasshoppers [7], termites [11], ants [2], flies [24], and vertebrates, including quail, sheep [25], and turtles [26], among others. To our knowledge, there has been no previous SIA studies in the context of cricket (Grylloidea) ecology.…”