7th December 2009 5 p.m. B62 (Boldrewood) LT5
Termite mound construction - A new multi-pheromone mechanism for royal chamber construction in Macrotermes subhyalinus
Seth Bullock
University of Southampton
- Categories
- Ecology, Systems biology
- Submitter
- Richard Edwards
Some termite species are capable of extremely impressive feats of construction, assembling complex, structured mounds on an enormous scale relative to their own bodies and lifetimes. The mechanisms that are employed in achieving this are not well understood, but it is clear that "stigmergic" decentralised communication and control via pheromone deposition and diffusion is involved. Here we explore a simple two-pheromone model of termite construction that can reproduce key aspects of early structure formation during the construction of an initial royal chamber. We explore the construction of columns, tunnels, intersections and domes, for the first time incorporating the fact that the movement of termites and pheromones is obstructed by built structures. However, we demonstrate that the two-pheromone mechanism cannot account for some important empirical observations of real termite behaviour. We propose an extended three-pheromone mechanism that may do a better job.
As part of the talk, I will consider the wider relationship between complex systems simulation research and biology, and give a quick over-view of current activities at the University of Southampton, including (acronym alert) our new University Strategic Research Group (USRG) in Complexity in Real World Contexts, and a new Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) in Complex Systems Simulation housed within a new cross-faculty Institute for Complex Systems Simulation (ICSS): see http://www.icss.soton.ac.uk