[Terrapreta] termites

[Gerald Van Koeverden]

Gordon,

I don't know about the viability of your super vacuum for termites,  
though I've heard the idea is effective for sucking praire dogs out  
of their tunnel in the West.  But it reminds me of a villager in  
Thailand who raised his range-fed chickens around a termite mound as  
the protein supplement.

Gerrit


On 16-Mar-08, at 6:35 AM, gordon eliott wrote:

> hi there all you soil philosophers!
>
> i`ve been a-lurking on your site for a few days and i am convinced  
> that adding char to soil is a fascinating and worthwhile project.
>
> but it does seem to me that you are all ignoring one of the big  
> players in soil and climate matters - TERMITES.
>
> there are some 4 billion tons of them. 700 kg of termites for every  
> human on the planet. in terms of carbon churn and methane flatus -  
> big numbers.
> they eat everything cellulose. often even living plant tissues.
> BUT their most important effect is on the soil structure; hard poor  
> soils with no carbon material and nearly zero water retention  
> capacity. when it rains in such areas the water rushes away rapidly  
> and then it is baking dry again. there is erosion and the flushing  
> out of nutrients to the sea.
> the presence of termites across vast swathes of savanna creates a  
> climate that is more severe. there is less humidity in the air,  
> more violent rainstorms, less frequent rain.
> and the type of plants that do manage to survive in termite areas  
> are those which devote a great deal of energy to producing anti  
> termite toxins. acacias and all types of magnificent mahogany tress  
> all derive from the selective pressure to avoid being gobbled up by  
> termites. biodiversity is curtailed.
> anyone wishing to explore the influence of termites in the very  
> grandest sweep of evolutionary theory could look for the writings  
> of charles weber.
>
> the point is that not everything natural is necessarily good and  
> wholesome. just because termites have been degrading their  
> environment for hundreds of millions of years does not mean that  
> their influence is desirable. termites do not like the cold. if  
> they did, perhaps the soils of the temperate zones would be as poor  
> as tropical soils.
>
> there does exist a machine which will get rid of termites and  
> deliver them  as a profitable food material. the gully emptier. a  
> vacuum tank on a truck which has a big proboscis to suck up the  
> stones and leaves and car keys that end up in the sumps of roadside  
> drains. a valve is opened and instant winds of 140mph suck  
> everything into the vacuum tank.
>
> the biomass per sq km of termites is often far greater than any  
> other animal.
> let me propose a scheme to take a few hundred square miles of very  
> unproductive savanna land with heavy populations of termites and to  
> suck these termites out of their nests and to feed them to  
> chickens. all that would need to be done would be to drill a hole  
> into the centre of each termite mound, insert the hose and suck  
> hard for a few seconds.
>  the chickens would certainly be very happy. any remaining termites  
> would probably succumb to predatory ant attack.
> given time, with very few termites around, the natural vegetation  
> in the area would flourish and this could be carbonised and buried  
> along with the chicken shit.
> given time the climate in that area would become better and more  
> gentle  (for the same reason that the climate in amazonia is said  
> to be becoming worse due to logging).
> given time, the short term profits from chicken ranching could  
> subsidize the creation of a garden of eden where good soils and  
> frequent rain permit all sorts of delicious things to be grown..
>
> best wishes to all
> gordon eliott
>
>
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