Mounds are prominent architectural features found in savannah ecosystems, where they play important roles. Although constant in form for many species, the appearance and type of mound can vary with environmental conditions such as rainfall, temperature, vegetation and locality. However, variability between mounds of same species in different habitats like savannah is not well studied. Here we compared the densities and architectural designs of mounds built by seven species of mound building termites found in two different savannah habitats. A low diversity (Shannon diversity index) was obtained for the Sahel compared to the Sudan region. Simpson’s diversity shows 64% and 67% chances of encountering any two of the species from Sahel and Sudan savannah respectively. Within species, there were no main difference in height, basal circumference and width of mounds except for the mounds of Macrotermes bellicosus. Commonly built mounds by the species were cathedral, cone, dome and mushroom shapes. The differential response to the two savannah types by the termite’s species suggest varying ability to respond to environmental selection pressures. Fungus growing termite, like Odontotermes, might have to trade mound modifications due to the environmental condition against mound structure beneficial to fungus growth.

中文翻译：

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建筑避难所：来自萨赫勒和苏丹大草原的白蚁丘和多样性

土丘是热带草原生态系统中的突出建筑特征，在那里它们发挥着重要作用。尽管许多物种的形态是不变的，但土丘的外观和类型会随着降雨、温度、植被和地点等环境条件而变化。然而，在大草原等不同栖息地中相同物种的土丘之间的变异性还没有得到很好的研究。在这里，我们比较了在两个不同的热带草原栖息地中发现的七种土墩建筑白蚁建造的土墩的密度和建筑设计。与苏丹地区相比，萨赫勒地区的多样性（香农多样性指数）较低。辛普森的多样性显示，分别有 64% 和 67% 的几率遇到来自萨赫勒和苏丹大草原的任何两种物种。在物种内，高度没有主要差异，除了 Macrotermes bellicosus 的土墩外，土墩的基围和宽度。该物种通常建造的土墩是大教堂、圆锥、圆顶和蘑菇形状。白蚁物种对两种热带草原类型的不同反应表明，它们对环境选择压力的反应能力各不相同。真菌生长的白蚁，如 Odontotermes，由于环境条件与有利于真菌生长的土墩结构，可能不得不交换土墩的修改。