Species-level termite methane production rates

Termites consume substantial amounts of plant material across tropical and subtropical ecosystems. During the process of lignocellulose digestion, the symbiotic methanogenesis within termites' guts produces the potent greenhouse gas methane (CH₄ ). Termites contribute an estimated 1%-5% of global CH₄ emissions, with these estimates derived from the product of termite biomass and termite CH₄ production rate per unit of termite biomass. However, termite CH₄ production rates vary significantly across species, genus, family, and feeding group, yet our understanding of this variation remains poor. Here, we reviewed papers published from 1975 to 2021 to create a single consistently derived list of species-level termite CH₄ production rates. We searched the Google Scholar using two key words: termite and methane. We only included studies that had measured termite CH₄ production rates using the incubation method. For each eligible study, we extracted and tabulated termite CH₄ production rates and other relevant variables (e.g., feeding groups). We used μg CH₄ g^-1 (termite) h^-1 as the standardized unit, and if other units were presented, we converted them into this standardized unit. Overall, these data include 134 termite species from 65 genera and 5 families. Termite CH₄ production rates ranged from 0 to 25.26 μg CH₄ g^-1 (termite) h^-1 , with an average rate of 3.74 (standard deviation = 4.08, n = 251). Reported CH₄ production rates were largely concentrated in the family Termitidae. Across feeding groups, soil feeders tended to have higher CH₄ production rates than wood feeders. However, published data represent fewer than 5% of described termite species, and therefore we hope that our study will initiate a community-wide effort to fill data gaps and advance our understanding of the role of termites in critical biogeochemical cycles and other ecosystem processes. The data set is in the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license waiver.