Some termite species of the Amazon build nests at ground level – termite mounds – for instance Neocapritermes braziliensis. This species has soldiers with large yellowish heads and bright black, asymmetric, snapping mandibles; it feeds on very rotten wood in contact with soil. Interestingly, it has been shown that a crocodilian species (Paleosuchus trigonatus) that lives in rainforest streams builds its nests on N. braziliensis mounds. Mounds, in turn, produce heat and help regulating crocodilian egg temperature and development[10].
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To quantity the termites of the Amazon rainforest is generally difficult, because of their discontinuous distribution, i.e. populations are structured in familial groups, the colonies. Besides, they remain hidden most of the time. Last but not least, termites are often difficult to identify by external morphological characters only. On the other hand, some species build conspicuous structures, which helps in both their detection in the field and in their identification.
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By: Pedro A. C. Lima Pequeno Graduate Program in Ecology, National Institute for Amazon Research, Manaus, Brazil The abundance of organisms varies in space and time. The triviality of such observation tells little about its causes, though, and some people have spent a lot of their time trying to understand this and related questions: Why do some places in the world have so many different kinds of organisms, while other ones are seemingly lifeless? How do organisms affect the environment they live in, and how are they affected in turn? The list goes on, but why would anybody care about
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