News Animals

Poison toilet paper reveals how termites help rainforests resist drought

Forests with more termites show better soil nutrient distribution and leaf litter removal

Macrotermes termites

FOREST FRIENDS  Common, large wood-eating termites, such as the Macrotermes species here, improve leaf decomposition, soil moisture and seedling survival in droughts, a study finds.

Yao Hua Law

By Yao-Hua Law

- More than 2 years ago

It took hundreds of teabags and thousands of rolls of toilet paper for tropical ecologist Kate Parr and her colleagues to demonstrate that termites help tropical rainforests resist drought.