Additional data: Feature-preserving synthesis of termite-mimetic spinodal nest morphology

Termite-built topology is complex due to group interactions and environmental feedback. Being interlinked

with material characteristics and related to functionality, an accurate synthesis of termite mound

topology has never been achieved. We scanned inner termite mound pieces via high-resolution microcomputed

tomography. A wavelet scattering transform followed by optimization extracts features that

are fed into a Gaussian Random Fields (GRFs) approach to synthesize termite-mimetic spinodal topology.

Compared to natural structures the GRF topology is more regular. Irregularity is related to anisotropy,

indicative of directionality caused by porous network connectivity of chambers and corridors. Since

GRFs are related to diffusion, we assume that deterministic behavioral traits play a significant role in

the development of these local differences. We pioneer a framework to reliably mimic termite mound spinodal

features. Engineering termite-inspired structures will allow to inspect aspects of termite architectures

and their behavior to manufacture novel material concepts with imprinted multi-functionality.

白蚁构筑的拓扑结构因群体交互与环境反馈而极具复杂性。该结构既与材料特性相互关联，又依附于功能属性，迄今为止尚未实现对白蚁丘拓扑结构的精准复现。我们借助高分辨率显微计算机断层扫描（high-resolution microcomputed tomography）对蚁丘内部试样进行了扫描，先通过小波散射变换（wavelet scattering transform）结合优化算法提取特征，再将特征输入高斯随机场（Gaussian Random Fields, GRFs）模型，以复现仿白蚁的旋节拓扑（spinodal topology）结构。相较于天然白蚁丘结构，该高斯随机场生成的拓扑结构更为规整。结构的不规则性与各向异性（anisotropy）相关，这表明腔室与通道构成的多孔网络连通性会催生方向性特征。鉴于高斯随机场与扩散过程相关，我们推测确定性行为特征在这类局部差异的形成中发挥了重要作用。本研究首创了一套可稳定复现白蚁丘旋节拓扑特征的框架。仿白蚁结构的工程化构建，将为探究白蚁筑巢架构与行为模式提供研究路径，助力开发兼具预设多功能性的新型材料设计理念。