International Journal of Forest, Animal and Fisheries Research (IJFAF) ISSN: 2456-8791 [Vol-6, Issue-4, Jul-Aug, 2022] Issue DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijfaf.6.4 Article DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijfaf.6.4.2 Int. J. Forest Animal Fish. Res. www.aipublications.com/ijfaf Page | 9 Termite Mounds’ Diversity and Distribution: A Study at Jnanabharathi, Bangalore University R K Kavyashree*, S Murugan, A Namratha Department of Zoology, Bangalore University, Bengaluru, India *Corresponding Author: Kavyashreerk99@gmail.com Received: 17 Jun 2022; Received in revised form: 11 Jul 2022; Accepted: 16 Jul 2022; Available online: 21 Jul 2022 ©2022 The Author(s). Published by AI Publications. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Abstract— Termites work together to modify their surroundings, which in turn influences their behaviour, leading to the building of termite mounds. The study was designed to assess diversity of termite mounds present in the Bangalore University Campus, Bengaluru, India. Observations were made on the occurrence, abundance, evenness and richness of the termite mounds. Mounds were surveyed by field survey and photographic interpretation method during July 2021 to June 2022. Totally 119 mounds were found, out of which 18 are ground level mounds, 42 small mounds, 37 medium mounds and 22 tall mounds. To test its effectiveness and to know about the influence of the mounds on the ecological well-being, termite mounds were identified, compared and interpreted using google earth map and the results were statistically verified. Keywords— Termites, Mounds, Diversity Index, Richness index and Evenness index. I. INTRODUCTION Termites being eusocial insects are spread widely in sub- tropics and tropics specially playing key role as decomposers and engineers of soil [13, 16]. Termite are having very soft cuticle, they do not sustain in cold regions, their nests are formed by uniform thermal envelope with very hard outer shell for protection from predators and desiccation [33]. Termites feed on various kinds of organic matter such as dead organic materials, wood, cardboard, paper etc [15]. Thus, they contribute much to nutrient cycle and community structuring in any ecosystem [32]. Along with ants and earthworms, the termites play a major role in increasing porosity of soil and creates tunnels which are called mounds. mounds are solid but porous walls made from soil and termite faeces acting as niche for various microorganisms and fauna providing protection against changing environment [10, 20, 27, 34]. The degree of termite contribution for the spatial heterogeneity in an ecosystem is attached with the mounds’ spatial distribution per unit area and its size and number. The spatial distribution of mounds is still the concept of debate as emphasized by findings from various ecosystems [5, 18, 19, 22, 30, 35]. Earlier studies of mounds are uneven, focusing on species classification [1] nest building and foraging activities [2] nutrient cycling [17] and termite- herbivore interactions [39]. However, understanding the spatial distribution of termite mounds can be a key component in predicting habitat utilisation and forage for herbivores [11, 12, 24]. Hence the present study was undertaken. II. METHODOLOGY The present study was carried out in Jnanabharathi campus (13º 05” N and 77º 34” E) at an altitude of 924 meters above the mean sea level with annual rainfall range of 530 mm to 1375 mm (mean 916 mm) spread to an area about 4.5 sq.km (1100 acres), situated on the elevated plateau at the western side of Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The study area is divided into site 1 (North) and site 2 (South) and is partially inhabited (Fig 1). The major part being un-inhabited, possesses wide range of vegetation from scrubby jungle, wild to cultivated trees with fauna such as insects, toads, reptiles, rodents and birds with a high population of termites and snakes.