These animals decompose wood ten times faster, releasing large amounts of CO2
The rise in temperatures on the planet can drive a greater termite proliferation and the volume of wood that they destroy, with the consequent release of large amounts of carbon dioxidewhich is one of the gases that cause ‘greenhouse effect‘, says a scientific study in which the Florida International University (FIU) has participated.
In the investigation of this ‘vicious circle’ (climate change-termites-higher temperatures), as FIU biologist Óscar Valverde-Barrantes calls it, it was found that termites make “ten times faster the decomposition of the mass of wood”.
“We really checked that termites act as an accelerator of the wood decomposition process” of pine that was used as a “sieve” in each of the 133 sites located on six continents where the two-year experiment was carried out, Valverde-Barrantes said.
In the case of Florida, the FIU biologist located in areas of the Everglades wetland and in the Keys, in the extreme south of the state, multiple bags with pieces of pine wood inside, some closed to maintain humidity and others with small holes of 3 millimeters in diameter to allow the entry of insects such as termites.
Two years later, the measurements on the effect of climate on the decomposition of wood at the observation sites.
Once all the bags were collected and the conditions of the wood examined, the experts found that “more than 50% of the wood that was in bags with holes had been colonized” by termites.
Not only that, the research revealed that termites, which thrive more in hot climates than in cold ones, “make the decomposition of the mass of wood ten times faster,” the academic points out.
The unstoppable spread of termites
A first conclusion to be drawn is that termites “very much accelerate the process” of decomposition of colonized woodcompared to the biomass that was not exposed to these insects.
The projections of the study, published in the journal ‘Science’, reveal the impartal expansion of termites: by the end of the 21st century they could colonize up to 30% more than their current rate in temperate zoneswith the consequent release of more CO2 into the atmosphere.
“This tendency to accumulate more CO2 in the atmosphere can generate a stove effect higher (greenhouse)”, added Valverde-Barrantes, who recommended “considering the termite variables in the existing models”, something that is not done yet, to measure how the expansion of these insects can accelerate global warming.
The biologist, also an expert in microbiology and evolution, highlighted as a matter of great personal and professional interest to examine, with a view to the future, “the decomposition process in those particular areas” of Florida, since there, In addition to termites colonizing the wood, they found beetles, ants, and other insects..
“There is other actors that we are not including yet in the studies on the decomposition of wood, such as the microbial part and other insects”, he pointed out. The study points out that only a small percentage of the populations of these insects consume wood from buildings, the vast majority “destroy wood debris in tropical and subtropical forests”.
Thus, “if the world becomes more tropical, termites could be a contributing factor for “warmer global temperatures”a potential threat for accelerating global warming on which even more extensive studies and projection models are required, the scientist acknowledged.
But the conclusion of this study should prompt, in the opinion of the biologist, the creation of new models that include how “with an increase in temperature the habitat of termites expands and the decomposition of the mass of wood in those areas “.