Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
values up to 2000 at the surface of the mounds where it had been concentrated
by evaporation. Soil-feeding termites usually feed on organic accumulations in soils
and the faecal pellets used to build their nests have higher nutrient and c concentrations
than the surrounding soil (Wood
et al.,
1983; Anderson and Wood, 1984; López-
Hernández
et al.,
1989) and Table IV.22. Faecal pellets of some termites may also have high
microbial biomasses: Boulaud (1996) measured very high concentrations of microbial
ribonucleic acid (in the faeces of the African soil-feeding termite
Cubitermes fungifaber.
