Three days prior to each trial, soiled nest material and substrate from wild-derived males was introduced into the subject female's home cage to induce oestrus during the preference test [ 64].
An antenna was buried ~10 cm below the floor of each underground den or aboveground nest (within the soil or nesting material) to allow reliable wireless communication to the device implanted in the bear.
Here, we experimentally test whether nest soil affects the odour label and template in a soil-nesting ant species, Camponotus aethiops.
They do it to avoid soiling their nests.
In contrast, at the pasture site, the leaf-cutter ant Atta laevigata had a mixed effect on water infiltration: compared with pasture matrix soils, their nest-building activities led to a threefold increase in infiltration of the mound soils, but a threefold decrease in the nest annular zones.
However, microbial respiration, even in suitable moisture conditions, did not differ between the nest and soil (on heaps) or nest respiration was significantly lower (in L. flavus nests in the meadow).
However, neither net mineralization nor net nitrification were significantly greater at depth in the mineral soil of the nests compared to soil that was not influenced by nests (P=0.05), although variability was higher in the nest soil.
Although true wood dwellers never invade soil, and their nests have no soil connections, all other termites are basically subterranean, building their nests either in soil or with soil connections and exploiting food sources away from the nest.
"Don't soil your own nest," he said.
