BACKGROUND A long-term experiment at two trial sites in Kenya has been on-going since 2007 to assess the effect of organic and conventional farming systems on productivity, profitability and sustainability. During these trials the presence of significant numbers of termites (Isoptera) was observed. Termites are major soil macrofauna and within literature they are either depict as 'pests' or as important indicator for environmental sustainability. The extent by which termites may be managed to avoid crop damage, but improve sustainability of farming systems is worthwhile to understand. Therefore, a study on termites was added to the long-term experiments in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to quantify the effect of organic (Org) and conventional (Conv) farming systems at two input levels (low and high) on the abundance, incidence, diversity and foraging activities of termites. RESULTS The results showed higher termite abundance, incidence, activity and diversity in Org-High compared to Conv-High, Conv-Low and Org-Low. However, the termite presence in each system was also dependent on soil depth, trial site and cropping season. During the experiment, nine different termite genera were identified, that belong to three subfamilies: (i) Macrotermitinae (genera: Allodontotermes, Ancistrotermes, Macrotermes, Microtermes, Odontotermes and Pseudocanthotermes), (ii) Termitinae (Amitermes and Cubitermes) and (iii) Nasutitiermitinae (Trinervitermes). CONCLUSIONS We hypothesize that the presence of termites within the different farming systems might be influenced by the types of input applied, the soil moisture content and the occurrence of natural enemies. Our findings further demonstrate that the organic high input system attracts termites, which are an important, and often beneficial, component of soil fauna. This further increases the potential of such systems in enhancing sustainable agricultural production in Kenya.

中文翻译：

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传统农业和有机农业对土壤生物多样性保护的影响：肯尼亚长期农业系统比较试验中白蚁的案例研究。


背景 自 2007 年以来，肯尼亚的两个试验点一直在进行一项长期实验，以评估有机和传统农业系统对生产力、盈利能力和可持续性的影响。在这些试验中，观察到大量白蚁（等翅目）的存在。白蚁是主要的土壤大型动物，在文献中它们要么被描述为“害虫”，要么被描述为环境可持续性的重要指标。在多大程度上可以对白蚁进行管理以避免农作物受损，同时提高农业系统的可持续性，这是值得了解的。因此，在肯尼亚的长期实验中增加了对白蚁的研究。该研究的目的是量化有机（Org）和传统（Conv）耕作系统在两种投入水平（低和高）下对白蚁丰度、发生率、多样性和觅食活动的影响。结果 结果显示，与 Conv-High、Conv-Low 和 Org-Low 相比，Org-High 中的白蚁丰度、发生率、活动性和多样性更高。然而，每个系统中白蚁的存在也取决于土壤深度、试验地点和耕作季节。在实验过程中，鉴定出九个不同的白蚁属，它们属于三个亚科：(i) 大白蚁亚科（属：异白蚁属、安西斯特罗白蚁属、大白蚁属、小白蚁属、土白蚁属和拟棘白蚁属）、(ii) 白蚁亚科（阿米白蚁属和肘白蚁属）和 (iii) Nasutitiermitinae (Trinervitermes)。结论我们假设不同耕作系统中白蚁的存在可能受到施用投入类型、土壤湿度和天敌出现的影响。 我们的研究结果进一步表明，有机高投入系统会吸引白蚁，而白蚁是土壤动物群的重要且通常有益的组成部分。这进一步增加了此类系统在增强肯尼亚可持续农业生产方面的潜力。