Termite and pangolin abundance measurements
To quantify the termite abundance in situ , we sampled the termites in the experimental plots of PT and TT in July 2018 and July 2019 adopting the (2000) transects method (Jones & Eggleton 2000). Since the area of our plots was 30 x 20 m, we took our entire plot as belt transect, divided into ten 3 x 2 m sections. In each section we counted the number of termites with an area meter (with 10 x 10 cm grid), based on counts of 1 x 1cm grid cells across the diagonal. We scaled these data up to the plot and also examined all deadwood and leaf litter for termites to obtain total termite abundance of each plot. See above for termite counts in the harvested deadwood samples.
We determined the density of pangolins in PT by counting their mounds in each incubation plot, simultaneously, in three nearby plots of the same area but without wood samples.

Calculation of wood mass loss rate

Wood litter mass loss rate % was calculated according to Eqn. 1: