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What Is An Individual?Concept Note
Identity is a process, not an object. All Earth life is connected through
a common ancestry. Each "individual" (each organism)-cow, beetle, daisy,
human --is actually a consortium of transformed and still-living other
beings.
Mixotricha paradoxa ("paradoxically mixed-up hairs"), as seen
in the termite community, may help to explain the fractal, nested-network
nature of life. A termite nest functions as a superorganism: each nest
is an "individual" made up of thousands of termites with specialized,
integrated roles. Within an "individual" termite are wall-to-wall microorganisms
numbering up to 1012 (a trillion) bacteria and 107 (10 million) protists.
A termite's hindgut microbial community (an anoxic habitat for successors
of ancient microbes) helps digest the wood consumed by the chewing machine.
Within that hindgut microbial community lives a beautiful tiny protoctist
called Mixotricha, It is actually a consortium of populations: one nucleated
cell, two kinds of spirochete bacteria, a rod bacterium on the surface,
and internal (endosymbiotic) bacteria, Mixotricha is in the process of
emerging a new "individual."
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Top: The microbial world inside a New England
termite (Reticulitermes flavipes) is seen in this circle
of microscopic light.
Right: Bosch? Dali? No, it's Mixotricha paradoxa. From 250,000 to 500,000 tiny spirochetes move the "giant" Mixotricha through the viscous habitat. Bottom: Hindgut wall of a wood-eating termite. (Illustrations by Kathryn Delisle, top, and Christie Lyons) |
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