Termites Are Associated with External Species-Specific Bacterial Communities

Abstract

As is the case for all ecosystem engineers, termites impact their habitat by their activities, potentially affecting bacterial communities. Here, we studied three wood-feeding termite species and found that they influence the composition of the bacterial communities in their surrounding environment. Termite activities have positive effects on Rhizobiales and Actinobacteria abundance and negative effects on the abundance of several ubiquitous genera, such as Bacillus , Clostridium , Corynebacterium , and Staphylococcus . Our results demonstrate that termite galleries harbor unique bacterial communities.