@article{Boonriam_Suwanwaree_Hasin_Chanonmuang_Archawakom_Yamada_2021, place={Nakhon Pathom, Thailand}, title={Effect of Fungus-Growing Termite on Soil CO2 Emission at Termitaria Scale in Dry Evergreen Forest, Thailand: 10.32526/ennrj/19/202100048}, volume={19}, url={https://ph02.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/ennrj/article/view/245082}, abstractNote={<p>Termites are one of the major contributors to high spatial variability in soil respiration. Although epigeal termite mounds are considered as a point of high CO<sub>2</sub> effluxes, the patterns of mound CO<sub>2</sub> effluxes are different, especially the mound of fungus-growing termites in a tropical forest. This study quantified the effects of a fungus-growing termite (<em>Macrotermes carbonarius</em>) associated with soil CO<sub>2 </sub>emission by considering their nesting pattern in dry evergreen forest, Thailand. A total of six mounds of <em>M. carbonarius </em>were measured for CO<sub>2</sub> efflux rates on their mounds and surrounding soils in dry and wet seasons. Also, measurement points were investigated for the active underground passages at the top 10% of among efflux rates. The mean rate of CO<sub>2</sub> emission from termitaria of <em>M. carbonarius</em> was 7.66 µmol CO<sub>2</sub>/m<sup>2</sup>/s, consisting of 2.94 and 9.11 µmol CO<sub>2</sub>/m<sup>2</sup>/s from their above mound and underground passages (the rate reached up to 50.00 µmol CO<sub>2</sub>/m<sup>2</sup>/s), respectively. While the CO<sub>2</sub> emission rate from the surrounding soil alone was 6.86 µmol CO<sub>2</sub>/m<sup>2</sup>/s. The results showed that the termitaria of <em>M. carbonarius</em> contributed 8.4% to soil respiration at the termitaria scale. The study suggests that fungus-growing termites cause a local and strong variation in soil respiration through underground passages radiating out from the mounds in dry evergreen forest.</p>}, number={6}, journal={Environment and Natural Resources Journal}, author={Boonriam, Warin and Suwanwaree, Pongthep and Hasin, Sasitorn and Chanonmuang, Phuvasa and Archawakom, Taksin and Yamada, Akinori}, year={2021}, month={Sep.}, pages={503–513} }