COLONY LIFESPANS. “A colony usually starts with a single mated pair (sometimes multiple pairs) and the small nuptial chamber they dig once alates have paired off and begin to reproduce. As the population of workers grows, so too does the mound, reaching a steady height at the same time the population of workers stabilizes at 1–2 million. This commonly takes 4–5 years. The mound will last as long as the queen’s lifespan, which is estimated to be 15–20 years, but the lifespan of the workers that actually build and maintain the mound is considerably shorter, on the order of a few months.”
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12304-016-9256-5
linkedin post 2022-06-29 05:12:48
Nigel Fleming
September 21, 2022