Belt-Transect: A sampling Device for Termite Communitite Study

The termite community, which is one of the key roles in the carbon cycle of ecosystems, had been studied from Tropical rain forest ecosystems in Chanthaburi, Thailand. The belt-transect sampling method was applied to monitor termite communities in moist-evergreen forest (MEF), hill-evergreen forest (HEF) and dry-evergreen forest (DEF) during December 1999-January 2001. Data obtained by belt- transect sampling described the characteristics of termite’s community in terms of its diversity and distribution. The results showed that MEF obtained the highest diversity of 2.10. DEF and HEF had lower H-index results of 1.72 and 1.49 respectively. Termite communities in the MEF and HEF had regular distribution of σ 2 /∝ <1 but approached random distribution, (σ 2 /∝ <1), in DEF with termite species.