Among nematode worms, unity is strength
In times of scarcity, nematodes cluster together and climb on top of each other to form "living towers." The goal of this rare cooperation in the animal world: to transport themselves to a food source that the small worms would never reach alone.
Scientists have long suspected that nematode worms could join together to form a “living tower,” a kind of superorganism with its own unique way of moving. It was only recently that researchers from the Max Planck Institute and the University of Konstanz in Germany were finally able to confirm the existence of “ these impressive building techniques ,” reports CNN . This fascinating collective behavior, which allows for collective transportation to food sources, is the subject of a paper published in Current Biology .
The researchers first observed rotting pears and apples under a microscope for months in orchards near the University of Konstanz. They spotted and filmed hundreds of tiny worms, barely a millimeter long, clustering together to form structures up to ten times the size of a single worm.
Lead author, researcher Serena Ding, describes to CNN:
“It's much more than a superposition of worms. We're looking at a coordinated superorganism that acts and moves as a whole.”
“ While the base of the tower doesn't move, the opposite side, which lengthens as the worms reach it, is able to move like a tentacle ,” explains New Scientist . The undulating movements make it possible to reach inaccessible places, for example, “forming a bridge that helps the worms cross over holes too large for a single individual to reach,” continues the British weekly. The superorganism can also reach a fly that has landed on the rotten fruit; some of the tower's worms can cling to it and be transported to another location. In simple terms, the worms give each other a leg up and then hitchhike.
To better characterize how the living towers work, the scientists then continued their investigations on a laboratory bench using C.Elegans , a model nematode worm in biology, which they placed in a food-deprived environment with a toothbrush bristle raised vertically. What happened? “ In just two hours, the worms formed a living tower ,” reports the Australian website Cosmos .
Before continuing the description, “ the tower remained stable for 12 hours and formed several exploratory tentacles, which eventually collapsed and then merged back into the main tower .”
