REVIEW Properties and functional impact of termite sheetings Ajay Harit 1 & Rashmi Shanbhag 2 & Ekta Chaudhary 1,3 & Sougueh Cheik 1,4 & Pascal Jouquet 1,4 Received: 9 May 2017 /Revised: 12 July 2017 /Accepted: 26 July 2017 /Published online: 5 August 2017 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017 Abstract Termites are considered soil engineers and key bioturbators in tropical and subtropical soils. A large number of studies have described the specific properties of the above- ground mounds that termites construct to protect their colonies from environmental hazards. However, there is a paucity of information on properties of soil sheetings; more temporary but often extensive structures are covering over or inserted within substrates on the ground such as leaves and woody materials or components of arboreal runways. Such sheetings are conspicuously produced not only by the Macrotermitinae but also by many other unrelated taxa. Here, we review the available literature and discuss (i) the relationship between rainfall and soil sheeting production and (ii) how termites affect the clay and C contents in soil sheetings. This reveals that sheeting production is highly variable and site specific. We also found that soil sheetings are always enriched in clay, but their impacts on soil C content are variable and related to the C content of the parent soil and to the quality of the sub- strates consumed by termites. Keywords Termites . Soil sheeting . Soil engineers . Bioturbation . Carbon and clay Introduction Soil bioturbation is the process in which soil aggregates are modified and/or displaced in the soil profile by soil fauna (Wilkinson et al. 2009; Bottinelli et al. 2015). This process is of primary importance in the soil system (sensu Ponge 2015) because it regulates key ecological functions such as nutrient cycling, infiltration and diffusion of water in soil, resistance of soil to erosion, and quality of runoff water (Jones et al. 2006; Ali et al. 2013). In many tropical soils, bioturbation is mainly carried out by termites and, to a lesser extent, by earthworms, ants, or beetles (Lavelle 1997; Bignell 2006; Jouquet et al. 2016c). As bioturbators, termites mediate soil properties at different spatial and temporal scales, which range from modifying clay mineralogy, driving aggregate dynamics, and inducing phys- ical stability to enhancing and sustaining porosity at the profile scale and generating nutrient-rich patches at landscape level (e.g., Hedde et al. 2005; Jouquet et al. 2011, 2016b; Bonachela et al. 2015). Most termite activity occurs below ground and involves the creation of subterranean nests and galleries (Holt and Lepage 2000). At the soil surface, termite activity leads to the production or epigeal structures such as mounds, and soil sheetings covering prospective substrates for consumption. But, while there is abundant bibliography de- scribing the specific biological, physical, and chemical prop- erties of termite mound soils compared to the surrounding environment (e.g. Holt and Lepage 2000; Jouquet et al. 2011, 2016a), much less information is available on the prop- erties of soil sheetings. For instance, the number of articles identified by ISI Web of Science on 09 May 2017 was 731 for termite mounds as a keyword, 137 for termitaria and just 24 for soil sheetings. Sheetings are soil aggregates which have been partially or extensively reconstituted by termites and have different physical, chemical, and microbial properties * Ajay Harit om.harit@gmail.com 1 Indo-French Cell for Water Science, Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, India 2 Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka, India 3 Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, India 4 Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (UMR 242 iEES Paris), Institute of Research for Development, Bondy, France Biol Fertil Soils (2017) 53:743–749 DOI 10.1007/s00374-017-1228-7