The influence of habitat and feeding group on Australian termite gut microbiomes

As some of the world’s most effective decomposers, termites and their gut microbial symbionts break down wood, grass, litter, soil, dung, and other complex compounds. Much of the research on termite gut symbionts has focused on the microbial communities of a few wood-feeding pest species but have overlooked the diversity of non-pest termites, including how gut microbiomes turn over across feeding guilds such as grass-feeders and litter-feeders, and different habitat types. Termites in a mound share their gut microbes through proctodeal trophallaxis (feeding on each other’s hindgut fluids), but it is unclear whether diet and gut microenvironment or vertical transmission plays a bigger role in gut microbial communities. Different species and feeding guilds cohabitate in similar environments and it is unclear how much they share similar microbiomes due to their proximity, or sharing similar resources. Here, I examine the scale at which microbiomes change across spatial distance, habitat, feeding group and species. I collected termites from four species of termites from wood-feeding and grass-feeding termites across 5 habitat types in North Queensland, Australia. I found that although species is the best predictor of termite microbiome, feeding group and habitat type both affect the gut communities in Australian termites. Understanding the shifts that occur in microbial communities in different habitats is an important part of knowing how species like termites will react to changes in environmental conditions over time.