How to start a termite 'orgy'

There are more than 3,000 species of ter­mites in the world, all living in social colonies with dis­tinct hier­ar­chies. They can be dev­as­tating pests, with the ability to destroy entire build­ings. But they're also an impor­tant com­po­nent of nat­ural ecosys­tems, with much to teach us about soil nutrient recy­cling. Still, nei­ther of these facts is what gets Rebeca Rosen­gaus, an asso­ciate pro­fessor of biology in the depart­ment of marine and envi­ron­mental sci­ences, out of bed in the morning. As she put it, "I'm inter­ested in them because they're neat."

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