It looks at the relationship between grasshoppers and spiders--herbivores and predators in the study's food chain--and how it affects the movement of carbon through a grassland ecosystem.
and an herbivore grasshopper and some others that had plants and herbivores along with a carnivore spider species--all three tiers of the food chain.
when just grasshoppers were present and by 1. 2 more times than when no animals were present.
The grasshoppers apparently were afraid of being eaten by the spiders and consumed less plant matter
The grasshoppers also shifted towards eating more herbs instead of grass under fearful scenarios. At the same time the grasses stored more carbon in their roots in a response to being disturbed at low levels
In both Europe and Australia the researchers were able to demonstrate considerable losses in the regional biodiversity of aquatic insects and other freshwater invertebrates.
These mainly include representatives of the stoneflies mayflies caddisflies and dragonflies and are important members of the food chain right up to fish and birds.
Biological diversity in such aquatic environments can only be sustained by them because they ensure a regular exchange between surface and ground water thus functioning as an indicator of water quality.
if its queen has had limited a number of mates. We wanted to determine whether a colony's genetic diversity has an impact on its survival and
Tarpy took genetic samples from 80 commercial colonies of honey bees (Apis mellifera) in the eastern United states to assess each colony's genetic diversity which reflects the number of males a colony's queen has mated with.
The more mates a queen has had the higher the genetic diversity in the colony. The researchers then tracked the health of the colonies on an almost monthly basis over the course of 10 months
The researchers found that colonies where the queen had mated at least seven times were 2. 86 times more likely to survive the 10-month working season.
Specifically 48 percent of colonies with queens who had mated at least seven times were still alive at the end of the season.
#Bioenergy potential unearthed in leaf-cutter ant communitiesas spring warms up Wisconsin humans aren't the only ones tending their gardens.
At the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Bacteriology colonies of leaf-cutter ants cultivate thriving communities of fungi
and shelter for the ants for researchers they are potential models for better biofuel production.
and is converted to energy for the ants says Frank Aylward a bacteriology graduate student and researcher with the Great lakes Bioenergy Research center.
In addition to sequencing the genome of Leucoagaricus gongylophorous the fungus cultivated by leaf-cutting ants the researchers looked at the genomes of entire living garden communities.
In a symbiotic relationship L. gongylophorous provides food for the leaf-cutter ant Atta cephalotes by developing fruiting bodies rich in fats amino acids and other nutrients.
which comes in the form of long cellulose molecules packed inside the leaf clippings the ants deliver.
The researchers have a few leads in their investigation of the mysterious role of bacteria in leaf-cutter ant communities
Enzymes such as those of the leaf-cutting ants'fungus specialize in breaking down leaves but understanding how they work in the context of the ant community could help researchers create similar methods for processing cellulosic biofuel feedstocks such as corn stalks and grasses.
however that both the beauty and the challenge of the leaf-cutter ant garden lie in its complexity.
A peek into UW-Madison's resident colony in the Microbial Sciences Building reveals a metropolis of brown insects bustling around the pale pitted surface of the fungus garden many with leaf sections held aloft.
To put their findings in perspective the researchers plan to study other insects in addition to ants including certain species of termites and beetles
which also act as gardeners in fungal communities. They hope that a better understanding of these complex systems will help them share their biomass-degrading secrets with bioenergy researchers.
From a base in Fairbanks Alaska the C-23 flies up to eight hours a day to sites on Alaska's North Slope interior and Yukon river Valley over tundra permafrost boreal
or responding to drought insects or pathogens says Katherine Chang the first author of the paper
and mild autumn weather result in a higher prevalence of deer keds (louse fly parasite). A great deal of pine forest in the habitat of the moose has the same effect.
and with the data accumulated over that period we have a better scientific understanding of how fast the insects evolve resistance and why.
inheritance of resistance is recessive--meaning insects survive on Bt plants only if have two copies of a resistance gene one from each parent
Planting refuges near Bt crops reduces the chances that two resistant insects will mate with each other making it more likely they will breed with a susceptible mate yielding offspring that are killed by the Bt crop.
and in recent years the EPA has relaxed its requirements for planting refuges in the U s. Perhaps the most compelling evidence that refuges work comes from the pink bollworm
Kongming Wu director of the Institute for Plant Protection at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing said This review paper will be very helpful for understanding insect resistance in agricultural systems
For decades researchers have struggled to understand why many different organisms--trees fish corals insects--from various habitats reproduce synchronously
#Pollinators easily enhanced by flowering agri-environment schemesagri-environment schemes aimed to promote biodiversity on farmland have positive effects on wild bees hoverflies and butterflies.
and pesticides generally hosted more wild pollinators than conventionally farmed land. Jeroen Scheper of Alterra Research Institute and colleagues demonstrated this by analysing the results of 71 studies that had looked at the effects of implementing agri-environment schemes in various European countries.'
whether the results indicate that agri-environment schemes boost pollinator populations or that they temporarily attract pollinators from surrounding areas.
Positive effects were restricted to very common species . However recently there has been a lot of concern that the decline of pollinators might result in pollination limitation of insect-pollinated crops.
Wild bees are excellent pollinators and common species do just the trick. All you have to do to enhance the wild pollinators of crops on farmland is increase flower abundance in field margins roadsides or crop edges.'
'The examined agri-environment schemes seem less effective in enhancing endangered pollinator species. Endangered species were observed rarely during the field studies.'
'Most of the studies used for the analyses were carried out in Northwestern Europe where farming is relatively intensive.
In these areas endangered species are restricted to semi-natural habitats and nature reserves. Also endangered bee species often specialize on flowers that cannot easily be established on farmland such as heather or bilberry.
The conservation of Red data book pollinators seems to require a separate conservation strategy'.'Rachael Winfree a leading pollination scientist from Rutgers University New jersey USA comments'This is an interesting timely and comprehensive study that tests several ecological hypotheses to answer an important question:
Where and how should we restore pollinators on agricultural lands? Given the global interest in pollinator declines and the considerable government funding going into pollinator restorations in the USA
and EU this work will have important policy implications. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Pensoft Publishers.
when human ancestors began getting much of their grass by eating grass-eating insects or meat from grazing animals.
if they were eating insects or if they were eating mixes of all of these. Why Our Ancestor's Diets Matterthe earliest human ancestor to consume substantial amounts of grassy foods from dry more open savannas may signal a major and ecological and adaptive divergence from the last common ancestor we shared with African great apes
If early humans ate grass-eating insects or large grazing animals like zebras wildebeest and buffalo it also would appear they ate C4 grasses.
#Female moths use olfactory signals to choose the best egg-laying sitesfunctional calcium imaging in the antennal lobes of a female Manduca sexta moth:
whether the moths respond to (Z)- 3-hexenyl acetate or (E)- 2-hexenyl acetate. The odor of A z)- 3-isomer or A z)- 3/(E)- 2 ratio in favor of A z)- 3-isomer according to the odor bouquet of an unattacked plant guides ovipositing Manduca
females to plants that have yet been spared by herbivorous caterpillars. Copyright: Anna Spã¤the MPI Chem.
Ecol. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology Jena Germany discovered that the ability of Manduca sexta moths to recognize changes in the profile of volatile compounds released by plants being attacked by Manduca caterpillars allows them to lay their eggs on plants that are less likely
to be attacked by insects and other predators and to avoid competing against other caterpillars of the same species for resources.
The results of field experiments and neurobiological studies were published now in the open access online journal elife.
elife May 14 2013 DOI: 10.7554/elife. 00421) Green leaf odorsplants have developed many different strategies to defend themselves against herbivorous animals particularly insects.
In addition to mechanical defenses such as thorns and spines plants also produce compounds that keep insects and other herbivores at bay by acting as repellents or toxins.
Some of these metabolites are produced on a continuous basis by plants whereas others--notably compounds called green-leaf volatiles--are produced mainly once the plant has been wounded
Attracting the enemies of the herbivoresthe hawkmoth Manduca sexta lays its eggs on various plants including tobacco and Sacred Datura plants (Datura wrightii.
Once the eggs have hatched into caterpillars they start eating the leaves of their host plant
and if present in large numbers these caterpillars can quickly defoliate and destroy the plant.
In an effort to defend itself the host plant releases green-leaf volatiles to attract various species of Geocoris predatory bugs that eat insect eggs and tiny larvae.
but enzymes released by M. sexta caterpillars'spit change some of these molecules into (E)- 2-hexenyl acetate
The resulting changes in the volatile profile alerts Geocoris bugs to the presence of M. sexta caterpillars on the plant their potential prey.
Ideal conditions for Manduca offspringnow the scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology show another interesting effect of the chemical odor conversion:
Just like Geocoris bugs adult female M. sexta moths are able to detect the changes in the green volatile profile emitted by Sacred Datura plants that have been damaged by M. sexta caterpillars.
This alerts the moths to the fact that Geocoris bugs are likely to predate eggs
and caterpillars on the plant and as a consequence the moths lay their eggs on unattacked plants.
Ecology and Neurobiology The researchers also identified the neural mechanism that allows moths to detect the slightest changes in the volatile profile of plants that have already been attacked by caterpillars.
Neurobiological studies of the moth brain revealed that E-and Z-odors lead to different activation patterns.
The two isomers of hexenyl acetate activated different regions in the antennal lobe of the moth (see images above.
This suggests that the female moths have isomer-specific receptors and neurons on their antennae says Bill Hansson director of the institute.
and may provide further insights into odor-guided behavior of insects in nature and agriculture.
New plant protection strategiesa similar behavioral pattern is known from potato beetles (Leptinotarsa decemlineata. An artificial application of (Z)- 3-or (E)- 2-hexenol (E)- 2-hexanal or 1-hexanol to potato plants lead to a disoriented behavior observed in egg-laying potato beetles.
On the basis of these results plant protection strategies seem possible which utilize artificial odor application
in order to deter ovipositing insects from field crops and thereby reduce insect infestation. Mclennan/AO/JWK Story Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
or even how to get around outside the hive. Before they can forage they must learn how to navigate a changing landscape
This gene is the insect equivalent of a transcription factor found in mammals. Transcription factors regulate the activity of other genes.
or look pretty attract insect pollenators so they are not generally important allergens because their pollen is not airborne.
and flowering trees like the Bradford pear and Crabapple but they are not typically allergens as they rely on insects instead of the wind to carry their pollen.
Bug and weed killers, solvents may increase risk of Parkinsons diseasea large analysis of more than 100 studies from around the world shows that exposure to pesticides
or bug and weed killers and solvents is associated likely with a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease.
For the analysis researchers reviewed 104 studies that looked at exposure to weed fungus rodent or bug killers and solvents and the risk of developing Parkinson's disease.
The research found that exposure to bug or weed killers and solvents increased the risk of developing Parkinson's disease by 33 to 80 percent.
#Research aims for insecticide that targets malaria mosquitoesin malaria-ridden parts of Africa mosquito netting protects people from being infected
now a University of Florida entomologist wants to improve the netting by coating it with insecticide toxic only to mosquitoes.
The insecticide would work by interfering with an enzyme found in the nervous systems of mosquitoes and many other organisms called acetylcholinesterase.
If the enzyme can't do its job the mosquito begins convulsing and dies. The research team's goal is to develop compounds perfectly matched to the acetylcholinesterase molecules in malaria-transmitting mosquitoes he said.
A simple analogy would be that we're trying to make a key that fits perfectly into a lock Bloomquist said.
but only in target species. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes in the Anopheles genus notably Anopheles gambiae native to Africa.
The disease is common in poor communities where homes may not have adequate screens to keep flying insects out.
which are present in the saliva of infected female mosquitoes and transmitted when the mosquitoes bite.
Bloomquist and colleagues at Virginia Tech where the project is based are trying to perfect mosquito-specific compounds that can be manufactured on a large scale
and applied to mosquito netting and surfaces where the pests might land. It will take at least four to five years before the team has developed
Though they were less toxic to mosquitoes than commercial products the experimental compounds were far more selective indicating researchers are on the right track he said.
The compounds we're using are not very toxic to honeybees fish and mammals but we need to refine them further make them more toxic to mosquitoes
and safer for nontarget organisms he said. Funding for the project came from a five-year $3. 6 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious diseases part of the National institutes of health.
In Florida malaria was a significant problem in the early 20th century transmitted by native Anopheles mosquitoes.
The disease has been curtailed greatly via mosquito-control practices but even today cases are reported occasionally in the Sunshine state.
The proposed road could lead to the collapse of the largest remaining migratory system On earth the scientists wrote led by Andrew Dobson from Princeton university.
#Top 10 new species of 2012an amazing glow-in-the-dark cockroach a harp-shaped carnivorous sponge
Also slithering it way onto this year's top 10 is a snail-eating false coral snake as well as flowering bushes from a disappearing forest in Madagascar a green lacewing that was discovered through social media
A Smudge on Paleolithic Art Ochroconis anomala Country: Francefungus: In 2001 black stains began to appear on the walls of Lascaux Cave in France.
Lightning Roaches? Lucihormetica luckae Country: Ecuadorglow-in-the-dark cockroach: Luminescence among terrestrial animals is rather rare and best known among several groups of beetles--fireflies
and certain click beetles in particular--as well as cave-inhabiting fungus gnats. Since the first discovery of a luminescent cockroach in 1999 more than a dozen species have (pardon the pun) come to light.
All are rare and interestingly so far found only in remote areas far from light pollution.
The latest addition to this growing list is L. luckae that may be endangered or possibly already extinct.
This cockroach is known from a single specimen collected 70 years ago from an area heavily impacted by the eruption of the Tungurahua volcano.
The species may be most remarkable because the size and placement of its lamps suggest that it is using light to mimic toxic luminescent click beetles.
No Social Butterfly Semachrysa jade Country: Malaysiasocial media lacewing: In a trend-setting collision of science and social media Hock Ping Guek photographed a beautiful green lacewing with dark markings at the base of its wings in a park near Kuala lumpur
and shared his photo on Flickr. Shaun Winterton an entomologist with the California Department of Food
and Agriculture serendipitously saw the image and recognized the insect as unusual. When Guek was able to collect a specimen it was sent to Stephen Brooks at London's Natural history Museum who confirmed its new species status. The three joined forces
and prepared a description using Google docs. In this triumph for citizen science talents from around the globe collaborated by using new media in making the discovery.
The lacewing is named not for its color--rather for Winterton's daughter Jade. Hanging Around in the Jurassic Juracimbrophlebia ginkgofolia Country:
Chinahangingfly fossil: Living species of hangingflies can be found as the name suggests hanging beneath foliage where they capture other insects as food.
They are a lineage of scorpionflies characterized by their skinny bodies two pairs of narrow wings and long threadlike legs.
and represent a rare example of an insect mimicking a gymnosperm 165 million years ago before an explosive radiation of flowering plants.
#Bee and wild flower biodiversity loss slowsdeclines in the biodiversity of pollinating insects and wild plants have slowed in recent years according to a new study.
but what we are seeing is a significant slowing or reversal of the declines for wild plants and their insect pollinators.
and we know that most crop pollination is done by wild pollinators. Biodiversity is important to ensuring we don't lose that service.
The study published in the journal Ecology Letters found a 30 per cent fall in local bumblebee biodiversity in all three countries between the 1950s and the 1980s.
while in Belgium and The netherlands bumblebee diversity had stabilised. The picture was better for other wild bees with an 8 per cent reduction in diversity in The netherlands and a stable picture in Great britain turning into significant increases (7 per cent in The netherlands and 10
Butterfly diversity continued to fall in all three countries at roughly the same rates as in the past.
However while we can use biodiversity records to measure changes in the diversity of pollinators we can't tell what's happening to their overall abundance
and the United states used historical and contemporary records of species'presence held by organizations including the European Invertebrate Survey Butterfly Conservation the Bees Wasps and Ants Recording Society the INBO Research Institute
These measures have been taken in response to evidence that neonicotinoids are toxic to honeybees and are contributing to the decline of bee colonies.
#Flower power fights orchard pestswashington State university researchers have found they can control one of fruit growers'more severe pests aphids with a remarkably benign tool:
and predator bugs that in turn preyed on woolly apple aphids a pest that growers often control with chemical sprays.
After one week aphid densities were significantly lower on trees adjacent to flowers than on control plots
which have larvae that often feed on aphids. Hoverflies and other insects are attracted to flowers because they can find food in the form of pollen and nectar.
A syrphid hovers over alyssum. Researchers compared plots of apple trees with sweet alyssum to plots without flowers.
and colleagues found few hoverfly larvae showing that the hoverflies had only a marginal effect on the aphid population.
The mystery of the disappearing aphids seemed solved when the researchers found a diverse community of spiders and predatory insects in the plots with sweet alyssum.
But was it really the flowers that attracted aphid predators? The scientists sprayed protein markers on the sweet alyssum
and later captured insects and spiders at a distance from the flower plots. Many of the insects and spiders tested positive for the proteins proving that they had visited the flowers.
The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid attacking tree shoots and roots said Betsy Beers an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research
and Extension Center in Wenatchee and Gontijo's mentor and co-author on the paper. These aphids also secrete a sticky liquid called honeydew
which can coat the apples causing much annoyance during harvest. The aphids were kept previously at bay
when orchardists sprayed pesticides to control codling moths. Since the phase out of organophosphate insecticides though the woolly apple aphid has been making a comeback in central Washington and elsewhere.
The researchers state that the use of sweet alyssum for biological control can be integrated easily with standard orchard-management practices
and should be especially appealing to organic growers who have fewer insecticide options. The article Flowers promote aphid suppression in apple orchards was published in the July 2013 edition of Biological Controlstory Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by Washington state University. The original article was written by Bob Hoffmann.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Untangling the tree of lifethese days phylogeneticists--experts who painstakingly map the complex branches of the tree of life--suffer from an embarrassment of riches.
#Flower power fights orchard pestswashington State university researchers have found they can control one of fruit growers'more severe pests aphids with a remarkably benign tool:
and predator bugs that in turn preyed on woolly apple aphids a pest that growers often control with chemical sprays.
After one week aphid densities were significantly lower on trees adjacent to flowers than on control plots
which have larvae that often feed on aphids. Hoverflies and other insects are attracted to flowers because they can find food in the form of pollen and nectar.
A syrphid hovers over alyssum. Researchers compared plots of apple trees with sweet alyssum to plots without flowers.
and colleagues found few hoverfly larvae showing that the hoverflies had only a marginal effect on the aphid population.
The mystery of the disappearing aphids seemed solved when the researchers found a diverse community of spiders and predatory insects in the plots with sweet alyssum.
But was it really the flowers that attracted aphid predators? The scientists sprayed protein markers on the sweet alyssum
and later captured insects and spiders at a distance from the flower plots. Many of the insects and spiders tested positive for the proteins proving that they had visited the flowers.
The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid attacking tree shoots and roots said Betsy Beers an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research
and Extension Center in Wenatchee and Gontijo's mentor and co-author on the paper. These aphids also secrete a sticky liquid called honeydew
which can coat the apples causing much annoyance during harvest. The aphids were kept previously at bay
when orchardists sprayed pesticides to control codling moths. Since the phase out of organophosphate insecticides though the woolly apple aphid has been making a comeback in central Washington and elsewhere.
The researchers state that the use of sweet alyssum for biological control can be integrated easily with standard orchard-management practices
and should be especially appealing to organic growers who have fewer insecticide options. The article Flowers promote aphid suppression in apple orchards was published in the July 2013 edition of Biological Controlstory Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by Washington state University. The original article was written by Bob Hoffmann.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Nonsmoking hotel rooms still expose occupants to tobacco smokenon-smokers should give hotels that allow smoking in certain rooms a wide berth say the authors
and water and its flowers generate heat to attract pollinators. Now researchers report in the journal Genome Biology that they have sequenced the lotus genome
The hemlock woolly adelgid an exotic invasive insect has caused widespread hemlock mortality says Steven Brantley a postdoctoral researcher at Coweeta
Coweeta researchers estimated changes in transpiration at the forest-level since hemlock woolly adelgid infestation by monitoring tree water use
Whiteflies Ambush a Climate-Resilient Cropinterest in cassava has intensified across Africa as rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns caused by climate change threaten the future viability of food staples such as maize and wheat.
because they appear to be one of several factors causing an explosion in whiteflies which carry the viruses that cause CMD
Compounding the effects of rising temperatures scientists also think that genetic changes have led to the emergence of super whiteflies.
This toxic mix of circumstances affecting a tiny fly threatens to shoot down the Rambo root bringing the misery of food insecurity to vast swathes of Africa.
We used to see only three or four whiteflies per plant; now we're seeing thousands said James Legg a leading cassava expert at the International Institute of Tropical agriculture (IITA.
You literally have a situation where human beings are competing for food--with whiteflies. Farmers also help spread the disease by planting new fields with infected stem cuttings.
while it would take several years for the disease to spread across the continent via whiteflies alone infected stem cuttings could spark outbreaks in new areas overnight.
and environmentally sustainable ways to control whiteflies as well as proposals for new surveillance systems that can better track
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