Functional composition of termite species in areas of abandoned pasture and in secondary succession of the parque estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, Goiás, Brazil

Abstract

The termites allocate the space and alimentary resources of their habitats with different species or groups of species. Thus, understanding the response of termite functional groups to deforestation is a critical question. The objective was to compare the composition of termite species among areas of abandoned pasture and of secondary succession adjacent to the Semideciduous Forest remnants in the Parque Estadual Altamiro de Moura Pacheco, state of Goiás, Brazil. The study area comprised one abandoned pasture, one area in transition from abandoned pasture to forest and one fragment of Semideciduous Forest. The richness of termite species decreased from forest (13) to transition area (9) and to pasture (8). This is the first occurrence of Incisitermes sp. in the Cerrado. We concluded that Conservation Units is important to biome preservation, because some species occur only in one of three landscape settings sampled, despite the termite assemblages of the abandoned pastures and transition areas did not differ significantly from the Semidecidual Forest remnant.