Biology of Termites: a Modern Synthesis

Korb)6.1. Introduction6.2. Mastotermitidae6.3. Wood-dwelling termites6.4. Hodotermitidae6.5. Rhinotermitidae, Serritermitidae and Termitidae6.6. Origin and evolution of the worker caste6.7. Conclusion: what is a worker?References7. Ecology, behavior and evolution of disease resistance in termites (Rebeca B Rosengaus, James FA Traniello, Mark S Bulmer)7.1. Introduction7.2. Phylogeny, eusociality and the evolution of disease resistance in termites7.3. Termite microbial ecology, disease risk and immunocompetence7.4. Social behavior and infection control7.5. Termite life history, genetic diversity and disease resistance7.6. Disease and colony foundation7.7. Conclusions8. Comparative biology of fungus cultivation in termites and ants (Tânia Nobre, Corinne Rouland-Lefèvre, Duur Aanen)8.1. Introduction8.2. Evolutionary history of fungiculture8.3. Colony foundation and establishment of the fungus garden8.4. Role of fungal symbiont8.5. Fungus garden protection8.6. Evolutionary stability8.7. Concluding remarksReferences9. Molecular basis underlying caste differentiation in termites (Toru Miura, Michael E Scharf)9.1. Introduction9.2. A historical view of classic work on case determination and differentiation9.3. Screening of genes responsible for caste differentiation: gene discovery and genomics9.4. Investigation of gene functions in termites: functional genomics9.5. Hormonal regulation of caste differentiation9.6. Morphogenesis in caste differentiation9.7. Social regulation of caste ratios9.8. Sociogenomics in termites9.9. Conclusions and perspectivesReferences10. Sexual and asexual reproduction in termites (Kenji Matsuura)10.1. Introduction10.2. Facultative parthenogenesis in maleless colony Foundation10.3. Mechanism of termite parthenogenesis10.4. Asexual queen succession (AQS)10.5. Parthenogenesis and recessive deleterious genes10.6. Genetic basis of AQS10.7. Comparison of AQS systems between termites and ants10.8. Clues to find new AQS speciesReferences11. Pheromones and chemical ecology of dispersal and foraging in termites (Christian Bordereau, Jacques M Pasteels)11.1. Introduction11.2. Dispersal11.3. Foraging11.4. Pheromonal parsimony11.5. ConclusionsReferences12. Genetic structure of termite colonies and populations (Edward L Vargo, Claudia Husseneder)12.1. Introduction12.2. Genetic tools12.3. Colony genetic structure12.4. Population genetic structure12.5. Phylogeography12.6. Population genetics of invasive speciesReferences13. Termite mound architecture, from function to construction (Judith Korb)13.1. Introduction13.2. Function and functional significance of termite mound Architecture13.2.1. Fungus growing termites13.2.2. Magnetic termites13.3. Proximate mechanisms of mound building13.4. Concluding remarksReferences14. Morphology, physiology, biochemistry and functional design of the termite gut: an evolutionary Wonderland (David E Bignell)14.1. Introduction14.2. Structure and design: new insights14.3. Physiology14.4. Biochemistry14.5. An overarching hypothesis of evolutionReferences15. Diversity, structure and evolution of the termite gut microbial community (Moriya Ohkuma, Andreas Brune)15.1. Introduction15.2. Molecular phylogeny and evolution of protists15.3. Bacterial diversity15.4. Archaeal diversity15.5. Comparisons among host termites15.6. Spatial distributions in lower termites15.7. Protist-prokaryote associations15.8. Features of microbial communities in higher termites15.9. Conclusions and perspectiveReferences16. Role of the termite gut microbiota in symbiotic digestion (Andreas Brune, Moriya Ohkuma)16.1. Introduction16.2. Digestion of wood polysaccharides16.3. The anaerobic food web16.4. Termite guts as gradient systems16.5. Role of the gut microbiota in nitrogen metabolism16.6. Digestion of soil organic matter16.7. Do termites degrade lignin?16.8. ConclusionsReferences17. Global biogeography of termites: a compilation of sources (David T Jones, Paul Eggleton)17.1. Introduction17.2..Termite functional and taxonomic classification17.3. Exemplar assemblages17.4. Taxonomic richness17.5. Comparison of assemblages within biomes: some pre-liminary observations17.6. Implications of varying assemblage structures for termite mediated decomposition in different biomes17.7. ConclusionsReferences 18. Termites as pests of tropical agriculture (Corinne Rouland-Lefèvre)18.1. Introduction18.2. Damage to tropical crops18.3. Chemical control18.4. Control by non-chemical means18.5. Biological control18.6. ConclusionsReferences19. Invasive termites (Theodore A Evans)19.1. Introduction19.2. Definitions19.3. List of invasive species 19.4. Characteristics of invasive species19.5. Invaded habitats19.6. Source habitats of invasive species19.7. Future invasions?References