MICROBIAL BIOMASS AND SOME CHEMICAL-PROPERTIES OF MACROTERMES CARBONARIUS MOUNDS NEAR KORAT, THAILAND

As part of a survey of termites in the Sakaerat Environmental Research Station, Nakorn Ratchasima Province, Thailand, we examined and compar ed the microbial biomass (MB), total C, total N, NH4+ and NO3- content of soil from eight Macrotermes carbonarius (Hagen) mounds and surroun ding A horizon soil in a Dry Evergreen Forest (DEF). No differences be tween mound soil and the surrounding A horizon soils were found for MB or any of the chemical properties examined in the DEF. Possible reaso ns for the lack of nutrient enrichment of mound soil by M. carbonarius in this tropical forest environment are discussed.