Mound-building termites are ecosystem engineers whose abundance and spatial ecology are not adequately addressed in many forest ecosystems. We studied Odontotermes obesus mounds at two moist tropical deciduous forests (pure Sal and Sal-Teak mixed) in the Doon valley, northern India. Mound abundance, spatial pattern and termite population density were determined by direct count, nearest neighbour analyses and destructive sampling, respectively. Relations between mound attributes and stand characteristics such as woody vegetation diversity, density and tree stumps (representing food quality, quantity, open-space availability and disturbance) were tested at fine spatial scale using regression analyses. Active mounds were more abundant in the pure Sal stand (~8.0 mounds/ha) than in the mixed stand (~5.0 mounds/ha). Mean population density (both sites combined) was 2.01 × 10⁵ individuals per mound. Population density was strongly correlated with mound volume. Predominance of young colonies was indicated by high occurrence (≥ = 65%) of small mounds (< 1.25 m³). Mounds were predominantly randomly distributed. However, the pure Sal stand showed a partial tendency towards aggregation. Our results revealed that woody species richness is an important, site-specific regulatory factor. Local-scale variations should be cautiously considered while up-scaling the contribution of O. obesus mounds to various ecosystem processes.

筑土白蚁是生态系统工程师，他们的丰度和空间生态在许多森林生态系统中得不到适当的解决。我们研究了Odontotermes obesus印度北部Doon山谷的两个湿润热带落叶林（纯净的Sal和Sal-Teak混合）中的小丘。土墩的丰度，空间格局和白蚁种群密度分别通过直接计数，最近邻分析和破坏性抽样确定。利用回归分析，在精细的空间尺度上测试了土墩属性与林分特征之间的关系，如木本植物的多样性，密度和树桩（代表食品质量，数量，开放空间的可用性和干扰）。纯净的Sal林分（〜8.0丘/公顷）比混合林（〜5.0丘/公顷）的活动丘更为丰富。平均人口密度（两个地点加在一起）为2.01×10 ⁵每丘的个体。人口密度与土堆体积密切相关。年轻的菌落占优势的是小堆（<1.25 m ³）的高发生率（≥= 65％）。土墩主要是随机分布的。然而，纯的Sal林分显示出部分聚集的趋势。我们的结果表明，木本植物物种丰富度是重要的，针对特定地点的调节因素。在扩大欧贝石。对各种生态系统过程的贡献时，应谨慎考虑当地尺度的变化。