#First in depth analysis of primate eating habitsfrom insect-munching tamarins to leaf-loving howler monkeys researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have compiled the most thorough review of primate
and tamarins eating more insects and less fruit. The amount of fruit eaten gradually increases with greater body size
We examined dietary data to quantify how much different primate species feed on fruit leaves and insects--particularly in relation to their body size.
Meanwhile smaller primates which have high metabolic requirements eat more insects as they provide a high-quality source of nutrients and calories.
#Ancient fig wasp lived tens of millions of years before figsa 115-million-year-old fossilized wasp from northeast Brazil presents a baffling puzzle to researchers.
The wasp's ovipositor the organ through which it lays its eggs looks a lot like those of present-day wasps that lay their eggs in figs.
The problem researchers say is that figs arose about 65 million years after this wasp was alive.
The wasp belongs to the Hymenoptera superfamily known as Chalcidoidea which parasitize other insects spiders and some plants.
and is estimated to contain up to 500000 species. This is a tiny parasitic wasp it's the smallest fossil wasp found in this particular deposit
and it's the oldest representative of its family said Sam Heads a paleoentomologist at the Illinois Natural history Survey at the University of Illinois. More importantly it's possible that this wasp was associated fig
The new findings demonstrate the value of studying insect fossils Heads said. The fossil record of insects is very extensive both geographically and temporally.
It goes back 415 to 420 million years and preserves the ancestral forms of a lot of the insects that are alive today he said.
So it's a great resource for understanding insect evolutionary history and the distribution of insects across the planet in the past.
The presence of a wasp with an ovipositor that looks like those used by fig wasps today is not hard evidence that figs were around in the fossil wasp's day--a time of dinosaurs Heads said.
There is no evidence of the existence of figs at this time and the most recent molecular study doesn't place figs that far back he said.
and this wasp was parasitizing whatever that was. This could be an example of convergent evolution where separate species independently evolve similar traits he said.
Or the fossil wasp could be the ancestor of the fig wasp and its ovipositor first adapted to a plant or fruit that was around long before the fig later found a use in figs.
Comparing insect fossils with living organisms offers new insights into the natural history of insects the plants they pollinate
With insects and other arthropods like spiders and scorpions they're around still. So we have modern forms to compare our fossil forms to
#Preference for oranges protects fruit flies from parasitesthe fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is pickier than previously thought when it comes to choosing the best site for egg-laying.
and their colleagues in Nigeria discovered that the insects prefer the smell of citrus. This preference is controlled by one single odorant receptor.
because parasitoid wasps feeding on the larvae of Drosophila avoid citrus fruits. The same smell that is attractive to the flies also repels the wasps.
The scientists used imaging techniques to visualize the activity in certain areas of the flies brains
while these were stimulated with different odours and they were able to localize and identify the receptor for citrus.
Flies in which this receptor was silenced were no longer able to distinguish oranges from other fruits.
For egg-laying insects selecting the best site to lay eggs is crucial for the survival of the eggs and larvae.
Once the eggs have been deposited the maternal care of the female flies ends: eggs and larvae are henceforth at the mercy of their environment;
First Marcus Stensmyr Bill Hansson and their colleagues in the Department of Evolutionary Neuroethology tested the preferred egg-laying substrates of fruit flies by letting insects select among different ripe fruits.
They excluded damaged fruits to make sure that the smell of yeast would not influence the flies choices (yeast is the flies main food source.
An analysis of the behavioural assays showed that female flies preferred to lay their eggs on oranges.
Further selection experiments helped to identify the odour that was the crucial factor for the flies choice:
Flies were attracted not to limonene-deficient oranges. On the other hand they were drawn immediately to fruits that had been spiked with synthetic limonene.
Although citrus is not an attractant for the flies it elicits egg laying. Interestingly evolution has split the perception of odours into two channels:
By performing electrophysiological measurements the scientists were able to quantify the flies'responses to limonene
Subsequently they tested the flies responses to 450 different odours. Apart from limonene valencene another component of citrus fruit also triggered a strong response.
lemons are favoured less by flies because of their acidity. Compounds that activated these particular sensory neurons induced oviposition.
In vivo calcium imaging of the flies brains stimulated with citrus enabled the researchers to identify the corresponding odorant receptor.
#oewe were surprised quite that by silencing just this single odorant receptor flies could no longer localize their preferred egg-laying substrate.#
#In nature a considerable proportion of Drosophila larvae are killed by enemies mainly parasitoid wasps that lay their eggs inside the larvae.
It is astonishing that these wasps are repelled by citrus odours although citrus should guide them to their food source:
Drosophila larvae. The parasitoid wasp Leptopilina boulardii which specializes in Drosophila melanogaster is repelled by valencene. In a further choice experiment the wasps had to choose larvae from two substrates one with valencene
and one without and they clearly preferred the larvae on the valencene-free substrate. It is still unknown why the wasps avoid citrus.
However it is certain that female fruit flies have learned to let their offspring grow on citrus fruits
because there the larvae are protected better against parasites. These research results provide important information about the criteria that insects use to select an oviposition site that guarantees the improved development of their offspring.
Marcus Stensmyr is convinced that#oethere are similar processes in other insects and ways to manipulate them#These insights may lead to new ways to control insects especially those that destroy crops or transfer diseases.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference h
#The first decade: Team reports on US trials of bioenergy grassesthe first long-term U s. field trials of Miscanthus x giganteus a towering perennial grass used in bioenergy production reveal that its exceptional yields
though reduced somewhat after five years of growth are still more than twice those of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) another perennial grass used as a bioenergy feedstock.
#Fruit pest targeted by genomic researchthe spotted wing drosophila a major pest that targets berries and cherries and other fruits in the United states Canada and Europe is itself being targeted thanks to groundbreaking genome sequencing at the University of California Davis
To enable basic and applied research of this important pest Drosophila suzukii we sequenced the genome to obtain a high-quality reference sequence said molecular geneticist Joanna Chiu of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
Many researchers are working hard to study the biology of this insect through basic and applied projects
The spotted wing drosophila a native of Asia that was detected first in the United states in 2008 is wreaking economic havoc on crops such as blueberries cherries blackberries and raspberries.
This fly lays its eggs inside the ripe or ripening fruit and the developing larvae feed on the soft fruit crippling crop yields.
The spotted wing drosophila is a vinegar fly about 1/16 to 1/8 inch long with red eyes pale brown thorax and a black-striped abdomen.
and the American Museum of Natural history as part of a $5. 8 million project on the biology and management of spotted wing drosophila funded by a U s. Department of agriculture Specialty Crops Research Initiative grant
Zalom recently inducted as president of the nearly 7000-member Entomological Society of America said that the G3 article presents a high-quality reference sequence of Drosophila suzukii examination of the basic properties of its genome
Given this impressive response and the worldwide importance of Drosophila suzukii I expect that the G3 article will become very highly cited
and cast Joanna Chiu as a central figure in future Drosophila suzukii genomic studies related to topics such as insecticide detoxification odorant reception and regulatory entomology Zalom
Scientists from all over the world are interested in knowledge locked inside the fly's genetic material.
By finding the fly's unique genetic signature scientists hope that DNA testing will quickly determine
if ready-to-be shipped fruit contains spotted wing drosophila larvae. The UC Davis team included the Joanna Chiu lab
and the Frank Zalom lab both in Department of Entomology and Nematology and David Begun's drosophila evolutionary genetics lab in the Department of Evolution and Ecology.
They collaborated with Walton and spotted wing drosophila project leader Linda Brewer of OSU; Ernest Lee from the American Museum of Natural history;
and research technician Perot Saelao of the Begun lab. The Spottedwingflybase is dedicated a online resource for Drosophila suzukii genomics
but also includes comparative genomic analysis of Drosophila suzukii with other closely related Drosophila species. Story Source:
#Integrated pest management for billbugs in orchardgrasstwo weevil species the bluegrass billbug and the hunting billbug have caused widespread economic damage to orchardgrass a cool season grass that is cultivated throughout the United states as a high
However a new article in the open-access Journal of Integrated Pest Management called Ecology Taxonomy and Pest Management of Billbugs (Coleoptera:
Curculionidae) in Orchardgrass of Virginia presents an overview of the biology of orchardgrass and its associated billbug pests and reviews the control options for these pests.
#Himalayan flowers shed light on climate changeflower color in some parts of the world including The himalayas has evolved to attract bees as pollinators research has shown for the first time.
Associate professor Adrian Dyer of Monash and RMIT said previous studies had shown that flower color evolved to attract bees as pollinators in temperate environments
Mountainous environments provide an ideal natural experiment to understand the potential effects of changing climatic conditions on plant-pollinator interactions
since many pollinators show preferences for localised conditions and major pollinators like honeybees do not tend to forage at high altitudes Associate professor Dyer said.
Dr Mani Shrestha from Monash University and his colleague Prakash Bhattrai from the Tribhuvan University Kathmandu collected spectral data from more than 100 flowering plants in Nepal over a range of altitudes from 900
Using computer models to examine flower colors as bees would see them the team addressed how pollinator vision had shaped flower evolution.
and alpine (3000-4100m) regions showed evidence of having evolved color spectral signatures to enhance discrimination by bee pollinators.
The finding was a surprise as flies are thought to be the main pollinator in many mountain regions
and these insects have been such effective pollinators that they have led to the evolution of distinctive bee-friendly colors Dr Shrestha said.
The research could shed light on how flower colors may continue to evolve in particular environments depending upon the availability of the most effective pollinators.
The timber of many of the 198 species is of great economic interest because of its excellent insect and fungus resistance.
#Delaying resistance to Bt corn in western corn rootwormcorn that contains proteins that protect it from insect damage has been grown in the U s. since the mid-1990s.
While Bt corn has been highly effective against the European corn borer it has been less so against the western corn rootworm
In Resistance to Bt Corn by Western Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in the U s. Corn belt Drs.
Aaron Gassmann (Iowa State university) Michael Gray (University of Illinois) Eileen Cullen (University of Wisconsin) and Bruce Hibbard (University of Missouri) examine why Bt corn has been more effective against the European corn borer
which tunnels in the stem of the plant and less so against the rootworm which attacks the roots.
First Bt proteins intended for the European corn borer are produced at a higher dose than the ones intended for rootworms;
this ensures that fewer corn borers are likely to survive which lowers the chances of them producing offspring that may be resistant.
Second corn borer moths travel farther before mating which increases the chances of potentially resistant insects mating with non-resistant ones that have not been exposed to Bt proteins;
this lowers the chances of them producing resistant offspring. Finally fitness costs--or negative effects--of resistance in rootworms appear to be low.
One approach to IRM is not necessarily optimal for all insect pests according to the authors who recommend that growers use the following IPM approaches to delay further rootworm resistance to Bt corn:
Competition also increases trees'risk to bark beetles and diseases and subsequently leads to a buildup of dead fuels.
If the stand has experienced high mortality caused by bark beetles it can be thinned more heavily without sacrificing timber biomass or volume increment and plant diversity.
like a tick it produces a disease in the colony called varroasis that can kill entire hives being the main problem that beekeepers face worldwide.
and placed in hives 90 days before bloom begins The most part of the honey produced in Mexico is exported mostly to Europe where health standards are very high mainly concerning chemical residues.
and royal jelly but also to those dedicated to crop pollination and queen bee breeding. The researcher specialized in bee genetics points out that the developed technology was published recently on INIFAP we are in process of validation using field tests with beekeepers
The latest weapon in combatting climate changeas U n. climate talks continue in Warsaw soon a flying insect-like robot developed by scientists at Wake Forest University will give an unprecedented look at Peru's tropical cloud
Rather than relying on a human operator the drones fly autonomously using global positioning data compass coordinates and onboard stabilization systems.
Land management as a key to countering butterfly declinescurrently butterfly populations in many countries decline at alarming rates.
therefore have far-reaching consequences for the success and persistence of the butterfly fauna. A research team from Sweden and Germany have reviewed now effects of land management on butterfly diversity using historical and current surveys during the last 100 years.
The study focuses on systematic surveys of butterfly population trends and extinction rates in southern Swedish agricultural landscapes.
In some areas half of the butterfly fauna has been lost during the last 60-100 years.
The study is published in the journal Nature Conservation. Land use in these parts of Northern europe has changed markedly with key butterfly habitats such as hay meadows disappearing at alarming rates.
Grazed mixed open woodlands have been transformed into dense forests and domestic grazers have been relocated from woodlands to arable fields and semi-natural grasslands.
Adding to these problems current agricultural subsidy systems favour intensive grazing on the remaining semi-natural grasslands with strong negative effects on butterfly diversity.
and land use are problematic for the butterfly fauna relatively minor adjustments to land management have a potential of drastically counteracting these effects.
and to work towards recovery of threatened butterfly populations the review ends by recommending twelve management measures favourable for many butterflies.
#Bait research focused on outsmarting destructive beetleuniversity of Alberta researchers are closing in on developing an effective bait to get ahead of the destructive spread of mountain pine beetle
The compounds are providing insight into how the beetles swarm in destructive numbers in the Canadian boreal forest including Alberta.
The mountain pine beetle has killed lodgepole pine forests in the Western United states British columbia the Northwest territories and Alberta and according to other U of A research could spread east to the Maritimes.
Newer to the beetle's list is the jack pine tree and Erbilgin's research focuses on developing a bait that can be used potentially to monitor beetle activity specifically in jack pine forests in Alberta and other provinces.
which visual and chemical cues would combine to attract high numbers of beetles. Trap trees are used to concentrate
and removed along with the beetles. The mountain pine beetle is the most damaging forest insect in North america
and climate change has allowed the current epidemic to spread from lodgepole pine to jack pine a tree species that was thought to be unsuitable for beetle survival in Alberta.
In fact the beetle has attacked large swaths of jack pine in eastern Alberta close to the Saskatchewan border Erbilgin noted.
The bait tested in Grande Prairie lodgepole forests works by attracting the beetles to traps.
Right now we don't know how efficient currently available commercial baits will be in catching beetles in jack pine forest as they were developed to catch the beetle in lodgepole pine forests Erbilgin said.
Pheromones are essential for the mountain pine beetle to be able to spread and thrive so we wanted to explore how we might use that to stop them Erbilgin said.
The chemical compounds play a key role in the insect's ability to find a mate and to overcome tree defences.
The U of A study published recently in New Phytologist investigated the tree chemical compounds that play critical roles in the beetle's pheromone production and attraction in both their established lodgepole pine host and in the newer jack pine host.
The study revealed that the beetles emit the same pheromones from both tree species but researchers found that the females in the jack pine tree emitted more trans-verbenol a pheromone that initiates the beetle aggregation on host trees.
while sending out pheromone signals for more beetles to join the aggregation. Without this initial chemical signalling the beetles couldn't aggregate on the same tree Erbilgin noted.
Beetle attacks also induce a release of a volatile tree chemical 3-carene. Field tests conducted by Erbilgin
Understanding the role of pheromones in beetle invasion also allows for quicker monitoring of the insect's activities in jack pine forests Erbilgin said.
because its fruits are removed by ants after falling. The authors are also working with colleagues from University of Sydney to investigate the taxonomic value of aromatic resins which also appear to have therapeutic value.
and small-to medium-size insect herbivores that--by causing tree damage and death--disrupt the ecosystem services provided by trees.
#Queen bees honesty is the best policy for reproduction signalsqueen bees convey honest signals to worker bees about their reproductive status
We usually think of animals'chemical signals (called pheromones) as communication systems that convey only very simple sorts of information said Christina Grozinger professor of entomology and director of the Center for Pollinator Research Penn State.
However this study demonstrates that queen honey bees are conveying a lot of nuanced information through their pheromones.
if queen bees were manipulating workers into serving them or if they were providing valuable honest information to workers.
We have found that the information queens are conveying constitutes an honest message about their reproductive status and quality.
The queens are'telling'the workers that they are queens whether or not they are mated
Why do worker bees care if their queen is mated well? According to Elina Niã o postdoctoral fellow Penn State previous research has shown that colonies headed by more promiscuous queens--those who mate with many males--are more genetically diverse and therefore healthier more productive and less likely to collapse.
Beekeepers have been worried very about their queens since they seem to not be lasting as long--a few weeks
or months instead of one or two years said Niã o. We know that workers will replace their queens
when they are not performing well. So if worker bees are able to detect poorly mated queens
and take steps to remove them that could be an explanation for the rapid rates of queen loss
and turnover that beekeepers have been reporting. The researchers who represent Penn State North carolina State university and Tel aviv University describe how they assigned queen bees to a variety of treatment groups.
They report their findings in today's (Nov 13) issue of PLOS ONE. In one group they inseminated queens with a small volume of semen to mimic a poorly mated queen scenario.
In a second group the researchers inseminated queens with a large volume of semen to mimic a well-mated queen scenario.
In a third and fourth group they inseminated queens with low and high volumes of saline.
A fifth group was untreated an control. The researchers then dissected the queens removing two glands that are known to produce pheromones--the mandibular gland and the Dufour's gland.
Next the team extracted the glands'secretions and analyzed their chemical compositions using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Finally the researchers presented the gland extracts to worker bees and observed the extent to which they were attracted to different extracts.
The team found that worker bees preferred pheromone extracts of queens that were inseminated with semen rather than saline.
They also found that queens inseminated with higher volumes of semen or saline as opposed to those that were inseminated with low volumes of semen
or saline were preferred by worker bees. These results suggest that queens are signaling detailed and honest information about their mating state and reproductive quality to workers
and workers are capable of adjusting their behavior accordingly Niã o said. When workers replace failing queens it is particularly damaging to beekeepers
since it can take up to three weeks for the new queen to begin laying eggs
and another three weeks for the new workers to emerge as adults. This reduces the workforce
and therefore reduces honey production and even pollination efficiency. The team also found that the mandibular gland
The Dufour's gland seems to inform workers that queens have mated while the mandibular gland seems to indicate the queen's mating quality Niã o said.
This also means that these glands are likely being regulated via different neurophysiological pathways. According to Grozinger in addition to signaling queen bee reproductive status and quality queen bee pheromones regulate how fast workers mature and transition from taking care of developing larvae to foraging outside the hive.
It is possible that changing the quality of the pheromone could disrupt this and other processes
and poor nutrition on queen pheromone quality to see if the queen also is providing workers with information about her health.
The more we know about what affects the queen's health the better chance we will have of creating high-quality queens
and disease-resistant stocks of honey bees Niã o said. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Penn State.
The fungus we are using in the trial is a natural enemy of insects and mites found in soil.
In general Bioforsk Plante Health has good knowledge of the control of insects and mites. We know a great deal about the tick's biology and its natural enemies.
Euscorpius scorpions are relatively harmless with poison that has effects similar to a mosquito bite.
Whitefly experimentation to prevent contamination of agricultureon November 8th Jove the Journal of Visualized Experiments will introduce a new technique to aid in the development of defenses against diseases threatening food crops worldwide.
The method published under the title Transmitting Plant viruses Using Whiteflies is applicable to such at-risk crops as tomatoes and common bean plants.
The whitefly method provides a means of interfering with the plant-contamination process as well as the cultivation of plants that are altogether resistant to infection.
and her colleagues write that numerous genera of whitefly-transmitted plant viruses (such as Begomovirus Carlavirus Crinivirus Ipomovirus Torradovirus) are part of an emerging and economically significant group of pathogens affecting important food
The technique includes reliably rearing whiteflies with a specific virus while omitting the possibility of cross-contamination to other viruses--an easily encountered problem because of the sheer number of whiteflies used in testing.
Such contamination would jeopardize the results of an entire experiment. After exposing large numbers of a particular plant species to a specific whitefly-transmitted virus a researcher can then note which individual plants resisted infection and why.
This article outlines how to generate hundreds or thousands of infected plants year-round by exposing them to whiteflies each week.
Therefore the whitefly-assisted transmission method provides researchers with a powerful means for continued experimentation in developing plant defenses against the threat of whitefly-transmitted disease.
Polston said that she published this technique through Jove's video format because it was difficult to explain it through traditional text-only journals.
The water-stressed tropical forest trees support the production of more honeydew a sugary excretion imbibed by the Azteca ants that nest in the laurels'stem cavities.
The mutually beneficial interaction between laurels and ants which also involves tiny sap-sucking bugs called scale insects that make the honeydew is a well-known example of
Their results suggest that trees at drier sites buy insurance for their leaves in the form of beefed-up ant protection
and their defensive ants invest more in one another in drier more stressful conditions Pringle said.
and Azteca ants (Azteca pittieri) Pringle and her colleagues studied the interaction at 26 sites in seasonally dry tropical forests along the Pacific coast of southern Mexico and Central America.
Pringle and her colleagues found that the strength of the tree-ant mutualism--as measured by investment of trees in sugar for ants
and defense of leaves by ants--was greater at sites with longer dry seasons. Laurel trees don't feed ants sugar directly.
Instead they host scale insects familiar to gardeners as common backyard pests which produce the honeydew.
Scale insects are the middlemen in this protection racket: through the scale insects the trees indirectly pay a carbon fee in the form of sugar-rich sap that is distilled into honeydew to the ants in exchange for guard duty.
Pringle and her colleagues found that at the drier study sites laurel trees support more scale insects which in turn produce more honeydew.
The ant colonies that feast on this bounty are correspondingly larger and defend trees more effectively responding more quickly to disturbances.
When ants patrolling the surface of the tree encounter a leaf-eating insect they bite the insect until it falls from the tree Pringle said.
We found that at the drier sites the larger ant colonies were more likely to find such intruders
and the colonies sent more ants to attack the leaf-eaters and chase them away.
Through photosynthesis the leaves trap energy from sunlight and use it to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbon-based carbohydrates
which are used for food by the trees the scale insects and the ants. Defoliation is a greater potential threat at the drier sites
The fact that laurel trees at drier sites pay their ant protectors higher wages suggests that the potential costs of defoliation outweigh the relatively modest price of supporting more ants.
Pringle and her colleagues used a mathematical model to test this idea looking at the relative costs and benefits of carbon trading between trees and ants under rainy seasons of varying durations.
which ants protect trees from rare but life-threatening defoliation events best fit observations from the 26 sites.
but potentially lethal insect attacks may drive the evolution of tree-ant mutualistic strategies under different precipitation regimes.
As the climate changes the increased frequency of extreme weather events such as drought may act together with rare biological events such as outbreaks of insect pests to profoundly alter the ecology and evolution of plant-animal interactions.
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