As piles
of wood chips begin to form, the piles are not "protected"
in any way. That is, termites sometimes take chips away from
existing piles. That strategy might seem counter-productive.
But if the piles were "protected", you would end up with lots
of little piles, not one big one.
In general,
the number of piles decreases with time. Why? Some piles disappear,
when termites carry away all of the chips. And there is no
way to start a new pile from scratch, since termites always
put their wood chips near other wood chips. So the number
of piles must decrease over time. (The only way a "new" pile
starts is when an existing pile splits into two.)
This
project is a good example of a DECENTRALIZED strategy. There
is no termite in charge, and no special pre-designated site
for the piles. Each termite follows a set of simple rules,
but the colony as a whole accomplishes a rather sophisticated
task.
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