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The Life Of Termites
Termites are fairly unsophisticated biologically, but they have amazingly complex behavior, and are extremely social insects. Termites tend to resemble ants, and are sometimes mistaken for them.
Sure, termites may be a major pain if you own a home that has become infested with them, but they play a very important ecological role. Termites are attributed to the decomposition of various substances that are nutritionally poor, especially cellulose. Cellulose is what is known as a poly-sccharide, which is a numerous amount of sugar molecules that are very tightly chemically bonded.
Cellulose is what gives a plant it's structure, and is also the most plentiful organic compound on the entire planet. Cotton, wood, and all other paper products are mostly cellulose.
Many different species of termites produce nymphs (baby termites) in the late spring. When the nymphs are first born, functional wings unfold from the wing pads, and when they mature are known as alates. Alates are reproductively functional females and males that are ready to go out and start a new colony.
They tend to stay in their parent colony until all conditions are acceptable when they will emerge from the colony in swarms. The time and season of termite flights will differ with both species and location, but alates from every colony will always fly together, no one knows for sure how far away alates fly from their original colony. Termites shed their wings shortly after arriving at their destination. Females then uses pheromones to call out to mails, and may either accept or reject them when they arrive.
Termites are monogamous and they raise their children cooperatively. They have been around since pre-historic times and are not simple creatures, they have very complex societies just like humans do. They care for their children for a long time after they are born, they support their community, have different classes and divisions of labor, and exhibit other astonishing forms of behavior. Termites even have a political system similar to some of ours. They have a king and queen, soldiers, workers, and they even to go war!
Termites don't only eat wood, they also eat dung, which is very beneficial to the environment, if there weren't poop eaters around a large percentage of the planet would be littered with more dung than you ever thought possible! Termites are indeed interesting creatures, and as long as they aren't eating your house, are very easy to admire!
About the Author Accurate termite identification is the first step in dealing with termite problems. Having detailed termite pictures can be very helpful with identifying termites and possible signs of termites. The sooner you can find and eliminate them the safer your home will be.
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