Termites like it hot and humid: the ability of arboreal tropical termites to mediate their nest environment against ambient conditions.

Tropical termites are physiologically adapted to a narrow range of climatic conditions, and as a result may be particularly impacted by global climate change. Because of their key roles as decomposers and ecosystem engineers, any climatic impact on termites could have serious ramifications for tropical ecosystems. The ability of termites to mediate their nest environment could allow them to cope with these changes., The temperature and RH in nests of the tropical termite Nasutitermes acajutlae were compared with ambient conditions on the island of St John, U.S. Virgin Islands, over a 5-year period using data loggers inserted into nest cartons., Nest conditions were found to be significantly warmer, more humid, and less variable than ambient conditions with respect to both temperature and RH., A comparison of dead nests, live non-reproductive nests, and live reproductive nests revealed that temperature mediation appears to be primarily the result of the presence of termites, with reproductive nests producing the highest temperatures, while high RH is maintained by the insulating effects of the nest material., Environmental variability across the years of this study had a significant influence on nest temperature and RH, suggesting that if tropical conditions become warmer and drier as predicted, N. acajutlae may have difficulty adapting over the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]