| Title: | The extension of internal humidity levels beyond the soil surface facilitates mound expansion in Macrotermes |
| Author(s): | Bardunias PM; Calovi DS; Carey N; Soar R; Turner JS; Nagpal R; Werfel J; |
| Address: | "Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines, Rapid City, SD 57701, USA. Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham, UK. Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, 60 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1471-2954 (Electronic) 0962-8452 (Print) 0962-8452 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Termites in the genus Macrotermes construct large-scale soil mounds above their nests. The classic explanation for how termites coordinate their labour to build the mound, based on a putative cement pheromone, has recently been called into question. Here, we present evidence for an alternate interpretation based on sensing humidity. The high humidity characteristic of the mound's internal environment extends a short distance into the low-humidity external world, in a 'bubble' that can be disrupted by external factors like wind. Termites transport more soil mass into on-mound reservoirs when shielded from water loss through evaporation, and into experimental arenas when relative humidity is held at a high value. These results suggest that the interface between internal and external conditions may serve as a template for mound expansion, with workers moving freely within a zone of high humidity and depositing soil at its edge. Such deposition of additional moist soil will increase local humidity, in a feedback loop allowing the 'interior' zone to progress further outward and lead to mound expansion" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Behavior, Animal *Humidity Isoptera/*physiology Pheromones Soil Temperature Macrotermes airflow construction humidity template termite;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineBardunias, Paul M Calovi, Daniel S Carey, Nicole Soar, Rupert Turner, J Scott Nagpal, Radhika Werfel, Justin eng R01 GM112633/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural England 2020/07/09 Proc Biol Sci. 2020 Jul 8; 287(1930):20200894. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0894. Epub 2020 Jul 8" |
