Termites and their microbiome
Marissa Cole & Aram Mikaelyan
Miss: last night I saw on TV enormous 4000 year-old termite mounds in Brazil that could be seen from satellites. But what do termites do?
While certain termite species are damaging urban pests, responsible for significant wood damage, they make up less than 5% of the over 2,000 termite species. Most termites play a valuable role in ecosystems, particularly in recycling wood, grass, and leaf litter, though this can release methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Termites feed on lignocellulose, a difficult-to-digest substance with low nitrogen content. To process this, termites rely on gut microbiomes to break down lignocellulose and supplement their diets with nitrogen. Understanding this symbiotic digestion process is key to grasping their environmental role and may offer solutions for eco-friendly biofuels from plant waste, while also helping manage greenhouse gas emissions.