Category: Uncategorized

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

THE INJURY TEST OF MEMORY. “For the mound to serve its respiratory function, the colony must have knowledge, in some form, of how the mound is structured. That the colony has such knowledge is revealed dramatically by the response to mound injury, such as a breach of the mound surface by a soil auger. This initiates an immediate repair program that plugs the damaged mound, usually in less than a day, and often within a few hours of the injury. This is followed by an extended process of remodeling that, over periods that can span years, restores the damaged part of the mound to its form and functionality prior to the injury.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5 View in LinkedIn

HEREDITARY MEMORY, “For the workers, therefore, the environment they inhabit and interpret is both constructed by them, and is a hereditary legacy of past generations of workers. Indeed, this legacy need not be limited to the lifespan of a single colony: a small proportion of abandoned nests are re-colonized, so that elements of the mound built by a past generation can be passed on to a future one. This has interesting implications for the nature of hereditary memory.” https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5 View in LinkedIn