On Good TERMS – the role of TERMites in savannah ecosystem services
Termites are often seen as pests, but humans can actually benefit from the ecosystem services termites provide. In the project "On Good TERMS - the role of TERMites in savannah ecosystem services", beginning in October 2025 and funded by the UoC Forum, we will explore these beneficial links between termites and local communities in the Zambezi region, Namibia.
Led by our working group, this two-year project brings together local partners from Namibia with ethnologists, ecologists and soil scientists from the universities of Cologne and Bonn. We will explore how termite burrowing (excavation of underground tunnels) and gallery building (construction of covered tunnels above the ground) affect soil mixing and nutrient cycling over short and long timescales, using luminescence dating , isotope tracing, micromorphology and soil geochemistry.
This project serves a proof-of-concept for combining soil science, ecology and ethnology to understand and quantify ecosystem services provided by termites, supporting sustainable management of savannah landscapes.
In the coming two years, our team will therefore investigate the interactions between termites and humans in the Zambezi region of Namibia.
Created by Dr. Marijn van der Meij
Edited by Luisa Loers