Original article The inﬂuence of termites on soil sheeting properties varies depending on the materials on which they feed Pascal Jouquet a, b, * , Nabila Guilleux a, b , Sreenivasulu Chintakunta b , Mercedes Mendez c , Sankaran Subramanian b , Rashmi Ramesh Shanbhag d a Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (UMR 242 iEES Paris), Institute of Research for Development (IRD), 32 Av. H. Varagnat, 93143 Bondy, France b Indo-French Cell for Water Science (IFCWS), Indian Institute of Science, 560 012 Bangalore, Karnataka, India c Laboratoire d'Oc eanographie et du Climat: Exp erimentations et Approches Num eriques (UMR 7159 LOCEAN), Institute of Research for Development (IRD), 32 Av. H. Varagnat, 93143 Bondy, France d Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Malleswaram, 560 003 Bangalore, Karnataka, India article info Article history: Received 3 February 2015 Received in revised form 20 May 2015 Accepted 26 May 2015 Available online 2 June 2015 Handling editor: S. Schrader Keywords: Bioturbation Clay Ecological niches Fungus-growing termites India Soil sheeting Soil translocation abstract Fungus-growing termites are involved in many ecological processes and play a central role in inﬂuencing soil dynamics in the tropics. The physical and chemical properties of their nest structures have been largely described; however less information is available concerning the relatively temporary structures made above-ground to access food items and protect the foraging space (the soil ‘sheetings’). This study investigated whether the soil physical and chemical properties of these constructions are constant or if they vary depending on the type of food they cover. Soil samples and soil sheetings were collected in a forest in India, from leaves on the ground (LEAF), fallen branches (WOOD), and vertical soil sheetings covering the bark of trees (TREE). In this environment, termite diversity was dominated by Odontotermes species, and especially Odontotermes feae and Odontotermes obesus. However, there was no clear niche differentiation and, for example, O. feae termites were found on all the materials. Compared with the putative parent soil (control), TREE sheetings showed the greatest (and most signiﬁcant) differences (higher clay content and smaller clay particle sizes, lower C and N content and smaller d 13 C and d 15 N), while LEAF sheetings were the least modiﬁed, though still signiﬁcantly different than the control soil. We suggest that the termite diversity is a less important driver of potential soil modiﬁcation than sheeting diversity. Further, there is evidence that construction properties are adapted to their prospective life- span, with relatively long-lasting structures being most different from the parent soil. © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In the tropics, arthropods, particularly insects, make up much of the described biodiversity. In these environments, termites are often the dominant macrobiota [27], with a major role in ecological processes such as organic decomposition, soil formation and regulation (the maintenance of the physical and chemical condi- tions consistent with stability and continued fertility [6,7,21]). Thus termites are qualiﬁed as soil engineers [11,20], but also as ‘keystone species’ since their constructions and bioturbation activities create niche opportunities for a variety of plants, other animals and mi- croorganisms. These roles parallel those of earthworms in temperate (and some tropical) ecosystems, but this comparison remains speculative in most cases and there is a clear paucity of information on the inﬂuence of termites, especially if compared to the large amount of information available on the impact of earth- worms on soil bioturbation [8]. In semi-arid African and Asian environments termite diversity is often dominated in terms of abundance and activity by fungus- growing species (sub-family Macrotermitinae) [37]. Most studies on the inﬂuence of fungus-growing termites on soil dynamics have been carried out in Africa, but much less information is available in Asia. Fungus-growing termites are also abundant in Asia, and more research on their impact on soil dynamics is therefore needed. Most reports compared termite mound materials, and sometimes fungus * Corresponding author. Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (UMR 242 iEES Paris), Institute of Research for Development (IRD), 32 Av. H. Varagnat, 93143 Bondy, France. E-mail address: pascal.jouquet@ird.fr (P. Jouquet). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect European Journal of Soil Biology journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ejsobi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2015.05.007 1164-5563/© 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. European Journal of Soil Biology 69 (2015) 74e78