A long-term experiment at two trial sites in Kenya has been on-going since 2007 to assess the effect of organic and conventional farming systems on productivity, profitability and sustainability. During these trials the presence of significant numbers of termites (Isoptera) was observed. Termites are major soil macrofauna and within literature they are either depict as \'pests\' or as important indicator for environmental sustainability. The extent by which termites may be managed to avoid crop damage, but improve sustainability of farming systems is worthwhile to understand. Therefore, a study on termites was added to the long-term experiments in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to quantify the effect of organic (Org) and conventional (Conv) farming systems at two input levels (low and high) on the abundance, incidence, diversity and foraging activities of termites.
The results showed higher termite abundance, incidence, activity and diversity in Org-High compared to Conv-High, Conv-Low and Org-Low. However, the termite presence in each system was also dependent on soil depth, trial site and cropping season. During the experiment, nine different termite genera were identified, that belong to three subfamilies: (i) Macrotermitinae (genera: Allodontotermes, Ancistrotermes, Macrotermes, Microtermes, Odontotermes and Pseudocanthotermes), (ii) Termitinae (Amitermes and Cubitermes) and (iii) Nasutitiermitinae (Trinervitermes).
We hypothesize that the presence of termites within the different farming systems might be influenced by the types of input applied, the soil moisture content and the occurrence of natural enemies. Our findings further demonstrate that the organic high input system attracts termites, which are an important, and often beneficial, component of soil fauna. This further increases the potential of such systems in enhancing sustainable agricultural production in Kenya.

Termites are important ecosystem engineers. Yet they are often difficult to identify due to the lack of reliable species-specific morphological traits for many species, which hampers ecological research. Recently, termitologists working with West African termites (West African Termite Taxonomy Initiative) convened for a workshop with the aim of beginning to address this problem. Repeated determination of the same termite samples by the most renowned taxonomists for West African termites identified the huge scale of the problem, as less than 10% of all species could be unambiguously determined to the species level. Intensive discussions and comparisons increased the identification success to around 25% at the end of the workshop. Yet many groups remained problematic and molecular markers and barcoding techniques combined with species delimitation approaches will be needed to help resolve these existing taxonomic problems. Based on the outcome of this workshop, we propose concerted initiatives to address termite taxonomy on a global scale. We are convinced that dedicated workshops on regional taxonomy that follow a similar structured approach, with repeated determination of the same sample, will help overcome the difficulties that termite taxonomy faces. This initiative can also serve as a blueprint for other taxonomical groups that are difficult to identify.

Social insects are promising new models in aging research. Within single colonies, longevity differences of several magnitudes exist that can be found elsewhere only between different species. Reproducing queens (and, in termites, also kings) can live for several decades, whereas sterile workers often have a lifespan of a few weeks only. We studied aging in the wild in a highly social insect, the termite Macrotermes bellicosus, which has one of the most pronounced longevity differences between reproductives and workers. We show that gene-expression patterns differed little between young and old reproductives, implying negligible aging. By contrast, old major workers had many genes up-regulated that are related to transposable elements (TEs), which can cause aging. Strikingly, genes from the PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway, which are generally known to silence TEs in the germline of multicellular animals, were down-regulated only in old major workers but not in reproductives. Continued up-regulation of the piRNA defense commonly found in the germline of animals can explain the long life of termite reproductives, implying somatic cooption of germline defense during social evolution. This presents a striking germline/soma analogy as envisioned by the superorganism concept: the reproductives and workers of a colony reflect the germline and soma of multicellular animals, respectively. Our results provide support for the disposable soma theory of aging.

Animal hosts typically have strong specificity for microbial symbionts and their functions. The symbiotic relationships have enhanced the limited metabolic networks of most eukaryotes by contributing several prokaryotic metabolic capabilities, such as methanogenesis, chemolithoautotrophy, nitrogen assimilation, etc. This review will examine the characteristics that determine bacterial \"fidelity\" to certain groups of animals (e.g., xylophagous insects, such as termites and cockroaches) over generations and throughout evolution. The hindgut bacteria of wood-feeding termites and cockroaches belong to several phyla, including Proteobacteria, especially Deltaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Actinomycetes, Spirochetes, Verrucomicrobia, and Actinobacteria, as detected by 16S rRNA. Termites effectively feed on many types of lignocelluloses assisted by their gut microbial symbionts. Although the community structures differ between the hosts (termites and cockroaches), with changes in the relative abundances of particular bacterial taxa, the composition of the bacterial community could reflect at least in part the host evolution in that the microbiota may derive from the microbiota of a common ancestor. Therefore, factors other than host phylogeny, such as diet could have had strong influence in shaping the bacterial community structure.

Termite (Blattodea: Termitoidae) assemblages have important ecological functions and vary in structure between habitats, but have not been studied in lower subtropical forests. To examine whether differences in the richness and relative abundance of termite species and functional groups occur in lower subtropical regions, termite assemblages were sampled in Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve, China, among pine forest, pine and broad-leaved mixed forest (mixed forest), and monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest (monsoon forest). The dominant functional group was wood-feeding termites (family Termitidae), and the mixed forest hosted the greatest richness and relative abundance. Soil-feeding termites were absent from the lower subtropical system, while humus-feeding termites were sporadically distributed in mixed forest and monsoon forest. The species richness and functional group abundance of termites in our site may be linked to the forest succession. Altitude, soil temperature, air temperature, surface air relative humidity, and litter depth were significant influences on species and functional group diversity.

Species boundaries are traditionally inferred using morphological characters, although morphology sometimes fails to correctly delineate species. To overcome this limitation, researchers have widely taken advantage of alternative methods such as DNA barcoding or analysis of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHs) profiles, but rarely use them simultaneously in an iterative taxonomic approach. Here, we follow such an approach using morphology, DNA barcoding and CHs profiles to precisely discriminate species of soldierless termites, a diversified clade constituting about one-third of the Neotropical termite species richness, but poorly resolved taxonomically due to the paucity of useful characters. We sampled soldierless termites in various forest types of the Nouragues Nature Reserve, French Guiana. Our results show that morphological species determination generally matches DNA barcoding, which only suggests the existence of three cryptic species in the 31 morphological species. Among them, Longustitermes manni is the only species whose splitting is corroborated by ecological data, other widely distributed species being supported by DNA barcoding. On the contrary, although CHs profiles provide a certain taxonomic signal, they often suggest inconsistent groupings which are not supported by other methods. Overall, our data support DNA barcoding and morphology as two efficient methods to distinguish soldierless termite species.

BACKGROUND: The molecular operational taxonomic unit (MOTU) has recently been applied to microbial and microscopic animal biodiversity surveys. However, in many cases, some of the MOTUs cannot be definitively tied to any of the taxonomic groups in current databases. To surmount these limitations, the concept of \"reverse taxonomy\" has been proposed, i.e. to primarily list the MOTUs with morphological information, and then identify and/or describe them at genus/species level using subsamples or by re-isolating the target organisms. Nevertheless, the application of \"reverse taxonomy\" has not been sufficiently evaluated. Therefore, the practical applicability of \"reverse taxonomy\" is tested using termite-associated nematodes as a model system for phoretic/parasitic organisms which have high habitat specificity and a potential handle (their termite host species) for re-isolation attempts.
METHODS: Forty-eight species (from 298 colonies) of termites collected from the American tropics and subtropics were examined for their nematode associates using the reverse taxonomy method and culturing attempts (morphological identification and further sequencing efforts). The survey yielded 51 sequence types ( =  MOTUs) belonging to 19 tentatively identified genera. Within these, four were identified based on molecular data with preliminary morphological observation, and an additional seven were identified or characterized from successful culturing, leaving eight genera unidentified.
CONCLUSIONS: That 1/3 of the genera were not successfully identified suggests deficiencies in the depth of available sequences in the database and biological characters, i.e. usually isolated as phoretic/parasitic stages which are not available for morphological identification, and too many undiscovered lineages of nematodes. Although there still is the issue of culturability of nematodes, culturing attempts could help to make reverse taxonomy methods more effective. However, expansion of the database, i.e., production of more DNA barcodes tied to biological information by finding and characterizing additional new and known lineages, is necessary for analyzing functional diversity.

Termite mounds are abundant components of Tummalapalle area of uranium mineralization of Cuddapah District of Andhra Pradesh, India. The systematic research has been carried out on the application of termite mound sampling to mineral exploration in this region. The distribution of chemical elements Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Co, Cr, Li, Rb, Sr, Ba, and U were studied both in termite soils and adjacent surface soils. Uranium accumulations were noticed in seven termite mounds ranging from 10 to 36 ppm. A biogeochemical parameter called \"Biological Absorption Coefficient\" of the termite mounds indicated the termite affected soils contained huge amounts of chemical elements than the adjacent soils.

Acute otalgia during childhood is one of the most common complaints in general ENT practice. It may occur as a result of acute otitis externa, otitis media or a foreign body. Animate foreign body in the ear canal or in the middle ear usually results in otalgia and hearing loss. We present a rare case of a living mature termite in the middle ear of a 9-year-old girl complaining of intermittent attacks of otalgia associated with a loud cracking sound in the left ear. In this case, a small perforation of the tympanic membrane without a history of previous trauma, infection, or evidence of a foreign body in the external ear raises a suspicion. A careful, time-consumed microscopic examination could show the living creature in the middle ear. Immediate immobilization and removal of the living foreign body are imperative. In conclusion, tympanic membrane perforation and intermittent severe otalgia without history of otitis may lead to a suspicion of any insects in the middle ear.