Cues in context: differential behavioral responses of termites to the same stimuli

Previous studies have shown that termites and ants excavate from the walls of tunnels at depressions in the soil surface. In this study we showed that in Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki branch formation is governed by the location of depressions along tunnel walls. When depressions were positioned within a zone of tunnel is regularly occupied by termites in queue awaiting access to the tunnel tip, branches formed, but when these depressions were further away from the tunnel tip, branches rarely formed. Increasing the size of depressions did not greatly increase the likelihood of their becoming branches, but the orientation of tunnel showed a significant effect.