THE SUPER INTELLIGENT ARCHITECTURE OF TERMITES

THE SUPER INTELLIGENT ARCHITECTURE OF TERMITES


PART II: Termites, the Mysterious Insects

Most termites live in colonies consists up to some million individuals. These colonies require a home or a nest that must be large enough to accommodate such a great number.

Some nests are located underground while the other forms mounds may be up to 8-9 metres high. The termites are 4 to 15 millimeters tall.
If we transform this numbers and the compare with the size of human, these mounds will parallel skyscrapers that are 1000 meters tall. Roughly equivalent to height of the tallest human-made structure.

The question arises;
How are they able to build a mound at all ?
The process of construction is totally dependent on the systematic plan activating numerous workers where each other knows exactly what to do. It is hard to understand how that is possible !

Well, Some termites must be leaders and have a greater responsibility than the average worker. A sufficiently robust construction depends on the knowledge of the correct architecture, what kind of material to use and the right sequence of all various types in their process.
It might take 4-5 years to build a mound and the damages must be taken care of as soon as they occur.

Damage lead to a coordinated response of many termites, each individually carrying and depositing material for its repair.
This reliable behavior is even more surprising considering that termites lack a distinct central decision making authority sight and presumably, significant to intelligence or awareness of much beyond their immediate environment.

The process of collective repair looks much like process of construction, by which the shape and the function of mound emerges, out of simultaneous local actions.
How do they coordinate construction or such as scale?
Well, it seems like they have a collective brain able to make decisions which leads to effective strategies for foraging, defense and mound construction.
All the work and all the activities going on in the colony are thus regulated and coordinated . Although the termites are blind ,they can collaborate and they perform all their duties according to a plan.

We may wonder how are they able to build such large mounds being blind?
They must be communicating in some way or other.

The nests are divided into separate section consisting of small rooms averaging 2.5 cm. The mounds also consists of multiple floors and they all connected by a Tunnel- and the corridor system.
Even the corridors are built to only give a passage for one termite.The mounds are very resistant and may last for period of more than 10 years the exterior may be very hard almost like a concrete, but simultaneously being porous.

The mound acts as a lung: Pushing stale air from the metabolic sources and the ground upward its porous exterior walls, across which it can diffusely exchange with fresh air.
The air flow changes direction twice a day driven not by metabolism but see transient thermal forcing of its external environment.
Mound architecture itself takes advantage of daily oscillations in ambient temperature to drive convection for respiration. Because the internal portion is insulated and the external structures are exposed, they equilibrate with the environment at different rates.
At most times there is a temperature difference between the internal conduits and the external conduits.
The temperature difference is enough to facilitate daily alternating convective flow throughout the mound.

The Carrbon dioxide(CO2) concentration follows a daily cycle consistent with this picture. During the day, the nest as stagnates, as concentration of CO2 riches nearly 6%. This above for which is 0.04 % content of CO2 in the atmosphere.
When the temperature gradient reverses in the evening CO2 diffuses across the exterior wall, quickly refreshing the nests air as if the mound had taken a single, long breath.

This well-functioning ventilation system always secures the right atmosphere and right temperature. The mounds have both small and larger pores and the termites may open and shut the pores according to the need.

We understand that even the small individuals are programmed to perform all the duties.
They follow instincts.
Without this order there would be severe chaos in colonies with millions of inhabitants. Well, the life in a mound or a nest cannot thrive without a planning on several levels.
Communication and collaboration are paramount and testimony the presence of inherent planning and the purpose.
To be Continue. To read the part One of this amazing adventure please tap this link
Part I Termites the Mysterious Insects
A short Introduction to Intelligent Design

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