4 ms·

Bacteria beg to differ[1]. 1.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass_%28ecology%29#Bacterial_biomass http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomass_%28ecology%29#Bacterial.

• jessriedel 12y ago
  Bacteria have methods of exchanging DNA between individuals ("horizontal gene transfer") that termites (presumably) do not. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_conjugation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_conjugation (Also, it's you're just stating a singe data point ("Bacteria have a biomass comparable to plants and animals") it's rather annoying to not actually state it and to instead just give a cite, forcing the reader to click on your link to find out something they could have just read. It's as if I had only said "Bacteria are different than termites" and had given you my link.)
  • jrlocke 12y ago
    Commentary on style aside, I believe you're incorrect in your presumption. While the parent comment suggests that termites can reproduce fully asexually, the article is unclear about whether or not this is the sole way for new queens to be produced. I believe that even if a queen can ensure all future queens are clones, sexually produced alates can go on to found new colonies.