Termite Mounds (IMAGE)
Caption
These are small-scale patterns formed by plants in response to water scarcity lie within a larger formation created by the nests of social insects such as termites and ants. The nests in turn appear as circular clusters of vegetation (above, termite mounds in Mozambique) or as gaps of bare soil. Satellite images from four continents showed that insect nests are often evenly spaced, with each nest having an average of six neighbors. Territorial aggression between these colonies can produce a large-scale honeycomb distribution of the nests.
Credit
Photo by Robert Pringle, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Usage Restrictions
None
License
Licensed content