Endosymbiosis
Living Beings
•
36m
Encounter hundreds of species of microbe that exist nowhere else on the planet outside of a termite's gut. These microbes enable their termite host to digest the wood it infamously devours. The termite and these microbes share what is called an obligate endosymbiotic relationship. That is, neither could survive without the other's help, and one species lives inside the other. If you loathe termites, remember that overall, termites are absolutely essential to recycling dead plant material. Only 10% of the 3000 species of termite on the planet cause damage to human habitation. Without them, and by extension without these invisible microbes, the surface of the Earth would be buried under miles of rotting plant material.
Up Next in Living Beings
-
Founding an Ant Colony | Narrated
Only a few will be Queen. Discover what it takes to start a new ant colony in this rare visit inside a founding queen's underground brood chamber.
-
Feathers | narrated
Ornithologist Richard Prum shares his knowledge of the natural math of feather patterning. Simple feather patterns can be predicted using mathematical models called Turing reaction-diffusion equations. As a feather grows, each new cell must decide whether it will receive pigment or not, depending...
-
Ants on Flowers
Harvester ants search a lovely variety of flowers for nectar and water. Ants are attracted to sweet foods (as well as fatty), and these are on the lookout for flower nectar, along with hydration from giant water droplets. This program was made with assistance from Les Greenberg and the University...
