Final published version
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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The biogeography of Gabonese savannas
T2 - Evidence from termite community richness and composition
AU - Evouna Ondo, Fidèle
AU - Jeffery, Kathryn J.
AU - Whytock, Robin
AU - Abernethy, Katharine A.
AU - Couteron, Pierre
AU - Eggleton, Paul
AU - Griffin, Claire
AU - Ostle, Nicolas J.
AU - Koumba Pambo, Aurelie‐Flore
AU - Ngomanda, Alfred
AU - Edzang Ndong, Josué
AU - Parr, Catherine L.
PY - 2023/9/30
Y1 - 2023/9/30
N2 - AbstractAimThe mosaic of savannas that persists in the forest‐dominant Congo Basin is thought to be palaeoclimatic relics, but past biogeographical processes that have formed and maintained these systems are poorly understood. Here, we explored the post‐Pleistocene biogeography of Gabon's savannas using termites as biological indicators to understand historical and mechanistic factors influencing present‐day termite communities in the country's extant savannas.LocationGabon, Central Africa.TaxonBlattodea: Termitoidae.MethodsUsing standardised transect methods, we sampled termite communities in four disjunct modern savanna areas of Gabon: the centre (Lopé), the southeast (Batéké) and the south (Mayombe North and South). Termites at Lopé were collected in three habitats (annually burned savannas, savannas with a depressed fire regime and forest). We used DNA barcoding of the COII region to identify termite species and compared abundance, species richness and community composition across areas and habitats.ResultsCommunity composition differed greatly between Lopé and both Batéké and Mayombe savannas with Lopé being exceptionally depauperate and lacking characteristic savanna species. Within Lopé, termite abundance and diversity was highest in forests and lowest in annually burned savannas, with a gradual change in species composition across the forest–savanna gradient associated with fire history.Main ConclusionsThe absence of savanna typical species in Lopé savannas challenges current assumptions that these savannas were linked to the south/southeastern savannas during the Pleistocene and suggests a different evolutionary history. Lopé savannas may instead have opened as an isolated grassland and never have been contiguous with neighbouring savannas, or were isolated soon after forest expansion began and have now lost savanna‐typical species. Furthermore, the patterns of termite community composition in fire suppressed savannas support a hypothesis of rapid change driven by fire frequency where either fire suppression or infrequent burning over 23 years has meant savannas have become ecologically much more forest‐like.
AB - AbstractAimThe mosaic of savannas that persists in the forest‐dominant Congo Basin is thought to be palaeoclimatic relics, but past biogeographical processes that have formed and maintained these systems are poorly understood. Here, we explored the post‐Pleistocene biogeography of Gabon's savannas using termites as biological indicators to understand historical and mechanistic factors influencing present‐day termite communities in the country's extant savannas.LocationGabon, Central Africa.TaxonBlattodea: Termitoidae.MethodsUsing standardised transect methods, we sampled termite communities in four disjunct modern savanna areas of Gabon: the centre (Lopé), the southeast (Batéké) and the south (Mayombe North and South). Termites at Lopé were collected in three habitats (annually burned savannas, savannas with a depressed fire regime and forest). We used DNA barcoding of the COII region to identify termite species and compared abundance, species richness and community composition across areas and habitats.ResultsCommunity composition differed greatly between Lopé and both Batéké and Mayombe savannas with Lopé being exceptionally depauperate and lacking characteristic savanna species. Within Lopé, termite abundance and diversity was highest in forests and lowest in annually burned savannas, with a gradual change in species composition across the forest–savanna gradient associated with fire history.Main ConclusionsThe absence of savanna typical species in Lopé savannas challenges current assumptions that these savannas were linked to the south/southeastern savannas during the Pleistocene and suggests a different evolutionary history. Lopé savannas may instead have opened as an isolated grassland and never have been contiguous with neighbouring savannas, or were isolated soon after forest expansion began and have now lost savanna‐typical species. Furthermore, the patterns of termite community composition in fire suppressed savannas support a hypothesis of rapid change driven by fire frequency where either fire suppression or infrequent burning over 23 years has meant savannas have become ecologically much more forest‐like.
KW - forest
KW - DNA barcoding
KW - biogeography
KW - Gabon
KW - savanna
KW - fire
KW - Central Africa
KW - termites
KW - Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
KW - Ecology
U2 - 10.1111/jbi.14671
DO - 10.1111/jbi.14671
M3 - Journal article
VL - 50
SP - 1505
EP - 1518
JO - Journal of Biogeography
JF - Journal of Biogeography
SN - 0305-0270
IS - 9
ER -