 |
||||
|
 |
|
|
|
Click here to view all Upcoming Events// IFF Directors Talks
IFF Directors Talks 2012 // Previous IFF Lectures THE MOSELY SNOWFLAKE SPONGE THE ART OF ITERATION MAKING SPACE IFF Director Margaret Wertheim speaks at Art Center College of Design Captain Charles Moore Talks About Plastic Trash IFF Director Margaret Wertheim Seeing Anew [IFF-L20] Structural Considerations of the Business Card
Sponge[IFF-L17] Where the Wild Things Are 2: Things That Think: Where the Wild Things Are: Crocheting the Hyperbolic Plane: Darwinism on a Desktop: The Logic Alphabet Why Things Don't Fall Down Kindergarten: Crocheting the Hyperbolic Plane [IFF-L5] The Mathematics of Paper Folding [IFF-L4] The Physics of Snowflakes [IFF-L3] Crocheting the Hyperbolic Plane [IFF-L2] The Figure That Stands Behind Figures: // Previous Events Crochet Hyperbolic Workshop
|
The
Institute for Figuring THE ECOLOGY OF A TERMITE’S GUT |
|||
 |
||||
|
Termite gut bacteria known as spirochetes, belonging to the genus
Treponema. Photos courtesy of Dr. Jared Leadbetter, Caltech. |
||||
| From
the order isoptera, few organisms strike fear into the hearts of
homeowners more than the humble termite. Termites are estimated
to cost the southern California economy more than a billion dollars
a year and their ubiquitous presence has given rise to that peculiar
contribution to the tradition of wrapped objects, the tented home.
Though fearsome in your foundations, termite’s penchant for
wood commands our respect, for it is one of the linchpin’s
of the global ecology. Around the world, some 2600 species of termites
quietly break down the vast tonnage of fallen trees and other fibrous
biomass, digesting lignan and cellulose and recycling our forests’
nutrients. They can do so because of the unique colonies of microbes
that live inside their guts. There - in the absence of oxygen –
this unheralded community performs a miracle of micro-molecular
transformation that daily cleanses our planet and keeps our environment
healthy. |
||||
|
||||
Worker
termite and gut tract from the species Zootermopsis nevadensis The gut makes up about one third of the insect’s total weight. |
||||
|
More than a hundred different species of microbes
live inside a termite’s gut – many of them found nowhere
else on earth and most still a mystery to science. Among this community
are spirochetes related to the bacteria that cause syphilis, tiny
protozoans resembling snails, and Triconymphae whose aquiline bodies
suggest microscopic sea lions. Charting their way by chemotaxis
- sensing chemical gradients in the liquid around them – this
interlocking ecology has collectively evolved the ability to break
down even the hardest woods. How they do this is still largely unknown,
but it’s a trick that industry would love to learn. In theory,
if we could simulate a termite’s gut, wood could be used as
a feedstock to produce ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. |
||||
 |
||||
|
Termite gut protozoan - Streblomastix
strix – noses its way along chemical gradients in the insect’s
stomach juice. |
||||
|
Dr Jared Leadbetter, a world expert
on termite gut ecology, is an assistant professor of microbiology
at Caltech’s Department of Environmental Science and Engineering.
In this talk, he will take us into the wonderland of a termite’s
stomach and guide us through this microbial Serengeti, one of the
great-uncharted wildernesses on our planet. The event will include
films of termite intestinal flora and examples of termite’s
unintended sculptural triumphs THE INSECT TRILOGY #1 How Flies Fly – Dr. Michael Dickinson (Thurs, May 4) #2 The Ecology of a Termite's Gut – Dr. Jared Leadbetter (Thurs, June 1) #3 What is it Like to be a Spider – Dr. Simon Pollard (Wed, June 28) The Institute For Figuring is a nonprofit organization devoted to enhancing the public understanding of figures and figuring techniques. This lecture series is hosted by Telic Arts Exchange and funded in part by a grant from the Annenberg Foundation. |
||||
| © 2003–2018 The Institute For Figuring | ||||