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EXOPULMONARY ORGAN. “The structure of the Macrotermes mound is strongly differentiated from that of the nest, which is the genus’ fourth distinctive feature: the mound is an organ of “extended physiology” that serves a physiological function, capturing energy in turbulent wind to power respiratory gas exchange for the colony. The need for such an organ is considerable: the collective metabolism of the termites and fungi is equivalent to that of medium-size to large domestic livestock.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5 View in LinkedIn

THE EXTERNAL MOUND. “Macrotermes colonies characteristically build prominent above-ground structures that can rise several meters above the nest. Although the mound-building habit is found among other termites, such as the dramatic blade-like “magnetic” mounds built by the Australian termite Amitermes meridionalis, these other mounds invariably serve as the colony’s residence . The Macrotermes colony, in contrast, does not inhabit its mound, but is situated in the subterranean nest.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5 View in LinkedIn

INSECT LIVESTOCK FARMERS. “Where most other termites rely solely on intestinal symbionts for the digestion of their woody diets, Macrotermes have partially outsourced cellulose digestion to cultures of a symbiotic fungus, Termitomyces. The fungi are cultivated on numerous so-called fungus combs that are housed in special gallery chambers within the nest. The combs are built by workers from macerated woody material that is brought back to the nest and inoculated with fungal spores. The fungi then partially digest the woody forage, and this composted material serves as an enriched diet for the colony.” Just like Leafcutter ants thousands of miles away. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5 View in LinkedIn

TERMITE COLONY LUNGS. “These social insects shape their environments in dramatic ways, both in the construction of their mounds, and the broader physical environments in which they reside. Their mound, which serves as a wind-driven lung for the colony’s subterranean nest, offers an interesting example of how an organ of physiology can arise de novo from agents interacting with and interpreting a self-constructed environment. And because the environments in which they reside are mostly self-constructed, this poses interesting questions about the nature of adaptation, the nature of hereditary memory, and the process of evolution.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5 View in LinkedIn

BIOLOGY NOT PHILOSOPHY. “I hasten to add that I am an experimental biologist, not a philosopher, so I cannot claim to offer anything to this fascinating philosophical tradition. What I propose to offer, rather, is a description of what I believe to be an interesting example of how biosemiotic principles can constructively inform questions of how adaptation, and hence evolution, works. This is the “extended organism” embodied in colonies of the mound-building termites that are widespread throughout southern Africa (Macrotermes spp., Macrotermitinae).” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5 View in LinkedIn

THE CASE STUDY. “I review our findings on one such example: the mounds built by the fungus-cultivating termites of the genus Macrotermes. These structures are dynamic forms that are sustained by flows of soil from deep horizons up into the mound. The form, and hence the function, of the mound is determined by several environmental cues, most notably water and wind, as well as how termites interpret these cues, and signals that flow between termites, both directly and vicariously through the structures they build.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5 View in LinkedIn

RESOLVING INCOHERENCES. “This is well-illustrated by the constructed environments built by colonies of social insects, such as hives or nests, and the ancillary structures that contain them, forming an organism-like system known as a superorganism. The superorganism is marked by a kind of extended physiology, in that these constructed environments often serve as adaptive interfaces between the nest and ambient environment, and are constructed to manage the matter and energy flows between environments that constitute the process of adaptation. These constructed environments are also semiotic phenomena: interpretive structures, governed by information flow between the member insects and the structures they build.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5 View in LinkedIn