Comparative Mineralogical Analysis of Epigeal and Arboreal Termite Nests using Modern Analytical Techniques

Termites are generally known to be destructive to woody materials and are of benefit to agricultural sector as they improve the fertility of soil and recycle organic matter. Termite nests such as arboreal, epigeal, hypogeal amongst others are being built by termites and have received great attention due to its diverse complex architectural structures and its utilization by researchers for diverse applications. This study investigates the characteristic features of epigeal and arboreal termite nests by modern analytical techniques such as the scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). The SEM results presented the morphology of the samples, indicating the degree of density of the termite nests due to the observed variance in crystallite shape, size and color of the nests. TEM analysis showed that the plane arrangements of epigeal termite nest are polycrystalline in nature with more than one lattice plane orientation in the grains, whereas the arboreal termite nest showed planes that have multiple layered crystallite boundaries at some diffractions, with grain lattice planes being single crystallite. EDS of both samples indicate diverse elemental composition in the termite nest, with carbon and oxygen being the predominant elements. XRD confirmed the presence of quartz (SiO2), kaolinite (Al2(Si2O5)(OH)4) and microcline (KAlSi3O8) in the epigeal termite nest samples, while the arboreal termite nest consists of quartz (SiO2) and kaolinite (Al2(Si2O5)(OH)4) only. The intensity of quartz of the arboreal termite nest indicated a higher concentration of quartz compared to the epigeal termite nest. The features of the termite nest offer valuable insights into the construction practices involved in their formation.