Behold the work of ants.
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RE: https://mastodon.com.pl/@m0bi/116314052149903828
Behold the work of ants. Wood ants are so amazing. They have a whole city in there. They make these massive mounds to better collect solar radiation and heat their nest.
On warm days in early spring when sun hits the mound they will come out en mass to warm their bodies in the sun. Then they run deep into the nest where the ground is still cold. When they get cold again they come back out and warm themselves again.
They heat depths of the nest in this manner.
@futurebird
This is so cool, especially the part about them physically moving heat into the nest with their own bodies. -
RE: https://mastodon.com.pl/@m0bi/116314052149903828
Behold the work of ants. Wood ants are so amazing. They have a whole city in there. They make these massive mounds to better collect solar radiation and heat their nest.
On warm days in early spring when sun hits the mound they will come out en mass to warm their bodies in the sun. Then they run deep into the nest where the ground is still cold. When they get cold again they come back out and warm themselves again.
They heat depths of the nest in this manner.
@futurebird There are dozens of nests like this around my dad's place, some meters across, some smaller. I never paid them much attention as a kid but they really are fascinating now.
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@futurebird I spent much of my childhood at 3000 meters elevation, and the ants there do something quite similar: massively insulated piles built of whatever small organic material they can drag over. One bad result is that it's like a big pile of leaves if you jump over a log and land in ones, only all the leaves are trying to sting you...
@smellsofbikes @futurebird Hmmm. I wonder why it doesn't start composting (and getting REALLY hot).
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@smellsofbikes @futurebird Hmmm. I wonder why it doesn't start composting (and getting REALLY hot).
This is a great question. There was a study of carpenter ant nests to see if they generated any warmth in winter and they do not. But these are nests in hollow trees not piles like this one.
The ants are selective about materials. They collect many pounds of pine resin as they build the mound to keep bacteria and fungi at bay for colony health. (they mix formic acid with the resin which makes a kind of antiseptic substance)
Could this inhibit composting?
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This is a great question. There was a study of carpenter ant nests to see if they generated any warmth in winter and they do not. But these are nests in hollow trees not piles like this one.
The ants are selective about materials. They collect many pounds of pine resin as they build the mound to keep bacteria and fungi at bay for colony health. (they mix formic acid with the resin which makes a kind of antiseptic substance)
Could this inhibit composting?
@futurebird @msbellows @smellsofbikes : I'm a pine resin enthusiast and I'm so glad to hear that some ants are as well!
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@smellsofbikes @futurebird Hmmm. I wonder why it doesn't start composting (and getting REALLY hot).
This abstract suggest that chemical decay may play a role in nest heating, but it seems secondary to the sun exposure.
"Metabolic heat produced by ant workers or associated micro organisms is an important additional source of heat which helps to maintain thermal homeostasis in the nest."
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3962001/ -
@smellsofbikes @futurebird Hmmm. I wonder why it doesn't start composting (and getting REALLY hot).
@msbellows @futurebird Where I am it takes years for stuff to compost because it's so dry and cool. I have to water my compost to get it to do anything and I'm dumping in piles of old fruit. A big pile of pine needles lasts indefinitely.
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This is a great question. There was a study of carpenter ant nests to see if they generated any warmth in winter and they do not. But these are nests in hollow trees not piles like this one.
The ants are selective about materials. They collect many pounds of pine resin as they build the mound to keep bacteria and fungi at bay for colony health. (they mix formic acid with the resin which makes a kind of antiseptic substance)
Could this inhibit composting?
@futurebird @smellsofbikes
I suspect it may have something to do with the ants omitting green matter; I don't know whether woody matter alone heats up. Hey, #compost #composting people! We could use your expertise here! -
@futurebird @smellsofbikes
I suspect it may have something to do with the ants omitting green matter; I don't know whether woody matter alone heats up. Hey, #compost #composting people! We could use your expertise here!@msbellows @futurebird @smellsofbikes Composting requires quite a bit of moisture, I am pretty sure ants (like bees) have a very carefully maintained moisture and temperature level inside their nest.
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@futurebird @smellsofbikes
I suspect it may have something to do with the ants omitting green matter; I don't know whether woody matter alone heats up. Hey, #compost #composting people! We could use your expertise here!@msbellows @futurebird Particularly if you have a thick layer of seriously hydrophobic material like pine needles. You can dump a bucket of water on that stuff and it's bone dry 3 cm down. (Useful for when you need a hot fire quickly.)
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@msbellows @futurebird Particularly if you have a thick layer of seriously hydrophobic material like pine needles. You can dump a bucket of water on that stuff and it's bone dry 3 cm down. (Useful for when you need a hot fire quickly.)
@smellsofbikes @futurebird I never could get pine needles to catch. They seem like they should be amazing tinder but they always just went out for me. ?
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