Litchfield Savanna Wood Block Decomposition Data 2019
Wood block decomposition assessment at the Litchfield Savanna site is part of a global program looking at the influence of microbes and invertebrates on wood decay. A common protocol was developed exposing small (~400 cm3) pieces of a wood-substrate (untreated Pinus radiata) to the environment excluding and not-excluding macroinvertebrates (e.g. termites) by the use of a plastic mesh.
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2017-03-02
- Date (Publication)
- 2022-09-22
- Date (Revision)
- 2024-04-30
- Edition
- 1.0
Identifier
Publisher
Author
Charles Darwin University - Hutley, Lindsay (Professor - Environmental Science)
Ellengowan Drive, Casuarina, Northern Territory, 0810, Australia
Casuarina
Northern Territory
0810
Australia
- Website
- https://www.tern.org.au/
- Purpose
- This will provide baseline information on the relative rates of decomposition that can be ascribed to saprotrophic microbes and invertebrates in different ecosystems across Australia and the world. The use of a common wood substrate allows for direct comparison among studies. Note: This data is part of the NSFDEB-NERC Collaborative Research #1655759: Tropical deadwood carbon fluxes: Improving carbon models by incorporating termites and microbes. Investigator(s): Amy Zanne (Principal Investigator), Paul Eggleton (Co-Principal Investigator). Decomposer interactions and carbon flux: termite influences on microbial wood decay within the Australian SuperSite Network, J. Powell. Western Sydney University. The Thomas Davies Research Grant for Marine, Soil and Plant Biology, 2016.
- Credit
- We at TERN acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians throughout Australia, New Zealand and all nations. We honour their profound connections to land, water, biodiversity and culture and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
- Credit
- Since 2016 this project has been part of the Australian SuperSites Network (SuperSites). SuperSites is a Facility within the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN). TERN is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. NSFDEB-NERC Collaborative Research #1655759: Tropical deadwood carbon fluxes: Improving carbon models by incorporating termites and microbes. Investigator(s): Amy Zanne (Principal Investigator), Paul Eggleton (Co-Principal Investigator). Decomposer interactions and carbon flux: termite influences on microbial wood decay within the Australian SuperSite Network, J. Powell. Western Sydney University. The Thomas Davies Research Grant for Marine, Soil and Plant Biology, 2016.
- Status
- Completed
Point of contact
Charles Darwin University - Hutley, Lindsay (Professor - Environmental Science)
Ellengowan Drive, Casuarina, Northern Territory, 0810, Australia
Ellengowan Drive
Casuarina
Northern Territory
0810
Australia
- Topic category
-
- Biota
- Environment
Extent
- Description
- The Litchfield Savanna site is located within Litchfield National Park, about 80 km south of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. The area is classified as tropical savanna and is regularly exposed to fire.
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Temporal extent
- Time period
- 2017-03-02 2019-04-02
- Title
- Zanne et al. 2022, Termite sensitivity to temperature affects global wood decay rates, Science 2022 Vol. 377 Issue 6613 Pages 1440-1444.
- Website
-
Zanne et al. 2022, Termite sensitivity to temperature affects global wood decay rates, Science 2022 Vol. 377 Issue 6613 Pages 1440-1444.
Related documentation
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
- GCMD Science Keywords
- ANZSRC Fields of Research
- TERN Platform Vocabulary
- TERN Parameter Vocabulary
- QUDT Units of Measure
- GCMD Horizontal Resolution Ranges
- GCMD Temporal Resolution Ranges
- Keywords (Discipline)
-
- Termites
- Fungi
- Decomposition
- Litchfield Savanna
Resource constraints
- Use limitation
- The Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license allows others to copy, distribute, display, and create derivative works provided that they credit the original source and any other nominated parties. Details are provided at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- File name
- 88x31.png
- File description
- CCBy Logo from creativecommons.org
- File type
- png
- Title
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
- CC-BY
- Edition
- 4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- Other restrictions
- Other constraints
- TERN services are provided on an "as-is" and "as available" basis. Users use any TERN services at their discretion and risk. They will be solely responsible for any damage or loss whatsoever that results from such use including use of any data obtained through TERN and any analysis performed using the TERN infrastructure. <br />Web links to and from external, third party websites should not be construed as implying any relationships with and/or endorsement of the external site or its content by TERN. <br /><br />Please advise any work or publications that use this data via the online form at https://www.tern.org.au/research-publications/#reporting
- Other constraints
- Please cite this dataset as {Author} ({PublicationYear}). {Title}. {Version, as appropriate}. Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. Dataset. {Identifier}.
- Other constraints
- Please note: This data has been migrated “as is” from TERN’s SuperSite data portal. Minimal quality assessment has been applied to this data. Please contact the dataset author/s for queries regarding the data.
- Other constraints
- Please note: This data has been published by Zanne et al. 2022, Termite sensitivity to temperature affects global wood decay rates, Science 2022 Vol. 377 Issue 6613 Pages 1440-1444. DOI: doi:10.1126/science.abo3856
Resource constraints
- Classification
- Unclassified
Distribution Information
Distributor
Distributor
- Distribution format
-
- NetCDF
- OnLine resource
- Litchfield_Savanna_wood_block_decomposition_data
Distribution Information
Distributor
Distributor
- Distribution format
-
- NetCDF
- OnLine resource
- Litchfield_Savanna_wood_block_decomposition_data_dictionary
Distribution Information
Distributor
Distributor
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network
Building 1019, 80 Meiers Rd, Indooroopilly, QLD, Australia, 4068
Indooroopilly
QLD
4068
Australia
- Distribution format
-
- OnLine resource
- ro-crate-metadata.json
Resource lineage
- Statement
- <div class="text-section-title"><strong>Wood block bait preparation</strong></div> <p>Wood block bait preparation is described in detail in Cheesman et al., 2017. Relative roles of termites and saprotrophic microbes as drivers of wood decay: A wood block test. Austral Ecology. (supplementary appendix 2) https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12561</p> <p>Control Baits:</p> <p>Control Baits were made of planed planks of chemically untreated Pinus radiata with a total volume of ~400 cm3 (dried at 120˚ C for 48 h and allowed to cool to room temp under air conditioned lab environment before weighing) wrapped in nylon mesh material to exclude macrofauna. Control baits were labelled with aluminium tags T01 - T60</p> <p>Termite Baits:</p> <p>Termite Baits are the same as Control baits but have 10 holes (5 mm diameter) punched into the nylon mesh with a hole punch to allow termite access on the underside of the bait – termite foraging is from below. An aluminium tag is included in each bag with the Bait ID. Termite baits were labelled with aluminium tags T01 - T60.</p> <div class="text-section-title"><strong>Wood block bait deployment</strong></div> <p>Twenty bait stations were established in a linear transect (E-W selected for convenience) over 95 m with 5 m spacing, in close proximity, but external to the Litchfield Savanna core 1 ha vegetation plot. Stations were relocated off the line transect if the designated point was <0.5m from coarse woody debris, an existing termite mound, exposed rocks or substantial water flow paths, as these features were considered likely to alter termite behaviour. The area immediately under the baits had intact leaf litter removed and duff layer homogenised by scraping. Where there was a fire risk, the grass fuel load in an area surrounding (approx. 1 m) may be reduced by cutting. Baits were staked into the ground using individual pegs at the uphill edge of any surficial gradient (i.e., the top edge of where water would flow across the block in that landscape) with the side of the bait with holes (on Termite baits) in contact with the soil. As a minimum, 4 baits (2 Control, 2 Termite exposed baits) were set out at each station and covered by a 0.5 x 0.5 m square of 70% green shade cloth, which is itself pegged to the ground to reduce UV degradation and disturbance by fauna. Ten (alternate) bait stations had baits 4 baits (2 Control, 2 Termite exposed) deployed for microbial assessments.</p> <div class="text-section-title"><strong>Wood block bait collection</strong></div> <p>After 12 months, 2 baits (1 Control, 1 Termite exposed) were recovered from each of 20 bait stations for mass loss assessment. Two baits (1 Control, 1 Termite exposed) were recovered from each of 10 (alternate) bait stations for microbial assessments.</p> <div class="text-section-title"><strong>Wood block mass loss assessment</strong></div> <p>After 12 months, baits (1 Control, 1 Termite exposed) were recovered from each of 20 bait stations for mass loss assessment.</p> <p>Whole (unopened) baits were placed in sealed plastic bags and kept in the dark until assessment. For mass loss assessments, wood block baits were unpacked and assessed for fungal and termite damage (following Davies et al., 1999. Successional response of a tropical forest termite assemblage to experimental habitat perturbation. J. Appl. Ecol. 36, 946-62.), presence of imported carton or soil, presence/absence of termites, other insects, fungal fruiting bodies, plant roots. Bait were photographed before drying at 105°C for 72 h then weighed.</p> <p>Fungal and termite damage ratings</p> <p>Fungal and termite damage, was rated 0-4 following Davies et al. 1999. When termite damage is high, it becomes impossible to determine fungal damage and thus a value of NA (Not Applicable) was recorded.</p> <p>0 = sound wood</p> <p>1 = perceptible but very limited damage</p> <p>2 = clear changes to a moderate extent</p> <p>3 = severe changes</p> <p>4 = breakage of the wood block</p> <p>Fungal Damage</p> <p>0 = No perceptible fungal attack or softening</p> <p>1 = Discolouration and very superficial degradation or softening up to 1 mm in depth</p> <p>2 = Softening to a depth of 2 - 3 mm deep over all or part of the block</p> <p>3 = Marked decay in wood to a depth of 3-5 mm over a wide surface area or by softening to a greater depth (10-15 mm) over a smaller area.</p> <p>4 = Breakage due to fungal attack and softening.</p> <p>Termite Damage</p> <p>0 = No perceptible termite attack</p> <p>1 = Very superficial deterioration to 1-2 mm in depth at some points or over several cm2</p> <p>2 = Damage from 2 to 5 mm in depth over several cm 2, or with scattered points down to a depth exceeding 5 mm, or by different combinations of the two types.</p> <p>3 = Extended and deep destruction from 5 to 10 mm in depth, or tunnels reaching the centre of the block, or by different combinations of the two</p> <p>4 = Breakage due to extent of termite tunneling</p> <p>Any termites or insect collected from within nylon bags or wood blocks were transferred to 70% ethanol for storage.</p> <p>Any fungal fruiting bodies were air dried and weighed.</p> <p>Any ingrown plant roots were collected and scanned, then dried at 65˚C for 24 h and weighed.</p>
- Hierarchy level
- Dataset
Reference System Information
- Reference system identifier
- EPSG/EPSG:4326
- Reference system type
- Geodetic Geographic 2D
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/ad3d9828-c340-4265-ace4-771288b584d2
- Title
- TERN GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Point of contact
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Dataset
- Metadata linkage
-
https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/ad3d9828-c340-4265-ace4-771288b584d2
Point-of-truth metadata URL
- Date info (Creation)
- 2023-03-08T00:00:00
- Date info (Revision)
- 2024-04-30T00:00:00
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO 19115-1:2014/AMD 1:2018 Geographic information - Metadata - Fundamentals
- Edition
- 1
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19115-3:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
Metadata standard
- Title
- ISO/TS 19157-2:2016
- Edition
- 1.0
- Title
- Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-3:2016 and ISO 19157-2:2016
- Date (published)
- 2021
- Edition
- 1.0
Identifier
Overviews
Spatial extent
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Provided by
Associated resources
Not available