Meeting Abstract
Mound-building termites construct build tall structures using the soil available from their surroundings. These mounds house their entire subterranean colony, which consists of a queen, who generates major and minor workers, soldiers and reproductive alates that take wing when the ambient humidity conditions are favourable. In addition to the termite colony, termites also farm a fungus strain that exclusively grows within the mound and helps the termites digest wood. When building or repairing mounds, large numbers of termites are recruited to the building site where they then perform repetitive actions which involves regurgitating soil, rolling it into small boluses that are then used as the building bricks. For the clay to stick it must contain water. Because this activity occurs throughout the year ranging from heavily rainy monsoons to very dry summers, we studied how water content influenced building rates. We conducted a series of experiments which reveal that specific water content in the soil enables termites to maintain optimal building rates. This activity is collective, and also requires chemically mediated (perhaps through pheromones) recruitment of termites to ensure sustained building activity. We also show that this chemical is quite stable to temperature increases in excess of what termites would experience in their natural habitat.
