How termites influence the dynamics of aggregates on the soil surface is still poorly understood.
Researchers investigate how termites can build complex, long-standing, meter-sized structures all over the world.
My previous postdoctoral work at Princeton used DNA metabarcoding to explore how termites create spatial patterns in soil microbial communities in African savannas.
In this study, we investigated how termites select the direction of movement at an artificially-designed branching node, by making chemical trails on filter paper, drawing lines using a ballpoint pen which contained the chemical substance that induces the termite to follow trails.
Key to their survival is how termites get along with each other.
To get robots to build specific structures, Werfel thought about how termites use a limited repertoire of behaviors to build their mounds.
In the Fact Jam, we find out more fun facts about the Didgeridoo, including how termites traditionally hollow out bits of wood to make them, and how players can sometimes play continuously by breathing in through their nose whilst they breath out through their mouths.
Similarly to how termites swarm to build architecturally complex nests, neurons interconnect and exchange signals that translate to our feeling of selfhood, and more.
In a field experiment, we studied how termite-modified soil affects the occurrence of lawn and bunch grasses under natural field conditions.
A public private team has now sequenced microorganisms that live in the hindgut of Nasutitermes termites to identify how the termites achieve this feat.
