Soil-feeding termites build islands of soil physical and chemical fertility in pastures in Colombian Amazon.

ABSTRACT: Soil-feeding termite species, such as Patawatermes turricola (Silvestri, 1901), construct mounds that significantly alter soil properties; this species is an abundant mound-builder in the Amazon region. This study evaluated physicochemical changes in termite mounds and in Urochloa decumbens (Stapf) R. Webster pastures with scattered trees and rotational grazing at the Centro de Investigaciones Amazónicas Macagual - César Augusto Estrada González in the northwestern Colombian Amazon. This region receives approximately 3793 mm of annual rainfall and is characterized by Ultisol soils, which are acidic, cation-poor, and clay-dominated, where the termite P. turricola is predominant. The study hypothesized that mound-building activities by soil-feeding termites improve the soil physical and chem

SUBMITTER: Duran-Bautista EH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12040218 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature