The Tiny Termite and Its Huge Role in the African Savannah

In a layman’s eyes, a termite is not among nature’s heroes. The creature is so small that it slips under the radar and you won’t find it in Nature’s Hall of Infamy. But if its role in building up the African Savannah is an indication, it’s time to induct it among the heroes. Let’s call it an ecosystem builder. But why and how? In a gist, the lowly termite is capable of building up the ecosystem by construction quite large natural structures. The study behind the impact of termites on natural ecosystems was recently brought out in the journal PLoS Biology. Todd Palmer, one of the paper’s authors and an assistant professor of biology at the University of Florida says – “One of the kinds of typical things I think that people think about is, what drives a savanna in terms of its structure and function

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The Tiny Termite and Its Huge Role in the African Savannah