Introduction
Have you ever wondered why certain species in this world have been able to last and survive in extremely harsh climates? Is it due to advanced biology and/or the way they react with the environment? While the debate on global warming may be a controversial issue, there is little doubt that climate change is occurring. While much has been written about animal behavior, this article takes a different perspective in that it looks at the adaptations of the termite and, more importantly, their mounds, in the environment, and what we can glean from their adaptations.
Termite mounds
A typical termite mound can vary extremely in height, and have a diameter as large as 30 meters. The termites of Sub-Saharan Africa build mounds with the remarkable ability to regulate and control temperature (no more than 2 degrees celcius variation throughout a 24 hour period), maintaining similar ‘comforts’ to our own and, more importantly, respond to the weather and adapt accordingly to the external conditions.
How?
Termites have an extremely specialized caste system that has allowed them to focus on their assigned tasks. The workers are the mound builders (among other things), and centuries of evolution have enabled them to construct mounds that contain mirco-climates unaffected by harsh external weather. They are able to do this by forming ‘complex ducts and channels which not only look like our own vessels and respiratory channels, but function as effectively as well’. Thus air from the outside is brought in to replace stale and warm air on the inside. This tidally ventilated system is ‘driven by dynamic pressures generated by the chaotic fluctuations of wind speed and direction which are common in the turbulent outdoor environment’.
Have you ever noticed that as more people enter a room, the room gets even hotter, and you tell someone to open the window, turn on the fan or air-condition? This increase in temperature is due not only to increase accumulated body temperature, but also a rise in respiratory gases as well. Their ventilation system is able to exchange fresh air from the outside with stale respiratory air via surface ducts and conduits, density variations, a forced convective regime and evaporative cooling. Even more important is the colony’s ability to ‘match the rate of wind-induced ventilation exchange to the colony’s rate of respiratory gas exchange, brought about through adaptive modification of mound architecture’. Thus the termites are not only able to deduce that a colony has increased in size, but also able to match and counter the increase in respiratory gas with concurrent mound growth. How they are able to do this is thus far unsolved.
Examples
Perhaps the first building that encompasses this ‘technology’ on so sophisticated a level is the Eastgate Centre in Zimbabwe, which is totally naturally ventilated and regulated.
Conclusion
Thus looking at certain animals and how they have adapted with the environment can teach us valuable lessons beyond simply discovering processes and understanding animal motivations. We can learn from their ability to survive and adopt practices that can subsequently ensure our own survivability and reduce our ecological foorprint.
References
The Sandkings: http://www.sandkings.co.uk/ (Retrived: 17 October 2007)
Treehugger: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/biomimetic_buil_1.php (Retrived 17 October 2007)
Insecta Inspecta World: http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/termites/macrotermes/index.html (Retrived 20 March 2008)
Termite Behavior and Biology: http://www.allstatepestcontrol.com/user/Termite%20Behavior.htm (Retrived 20 March 2008)
The Coming Energy Crisis?: http://www.wtrg.com/EnergyCrisis/index.html (Retrived 20 March 2008)
Termites - Life's Ultimate Architects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m7odGafpQU&feature=related (Retrived 20 March 2008)
-Nigel Chong-
-Group 36-
Format: ???
Duration: 6 minutes