which facilitates proliferation of good bugs and inhibits growth of pathogenic bacteria. All of this extra fermentation and availability of SCFA provides fuel
and more good bugs colonize and thrive Higgins added. In this way resistant starch acts as a probiotic.
Adding to the danger of the dry brush is the bark beetle over western forests which is killing scores of trees
#Satellites Spy Beetle Attacks on Forests A new computer program detected a slow-motion decline and subsequent revival of forests in the Pacific Northwest in recent years.
 It was as it turns out bugs said Robert Kennedy a remote sensing specialist at Boston University who designed the computer program inâ a NASA statement.
and seen in several areas through the Northwest was caused byâ mountain pine beetles. His program also detected a similar pattern of damage caused by the western spruce budworm.
Outbreaks of pine beetles have occurred in several areas according to the release including near Mount Hood in the 1980s an outbreak that peaked in 1992
Another outbreak near Mount Rainier lasted 10 years from its onset in 1994 until the insects killed all the trees
 Pine beetles still pose a huge threatâ to forests throughout the West. Kennedy's program also recognized a subtler decline of forests near these two mountains.
These insects eat the needles off of spruce trees This won't kill trees immediately but will if the insects return in following years NASA reported.
Landtrendr is still in development but has changed already the way the U s. Forest Service monitors ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest according to the NASA statement.
so that for example they could contain an insect outbreak before it causes too much damage. Reach Douglas Main atâ dmain@techmedianetwork. com. Follow him on Twitterâ@Douglas main. Follow Ouramazingplanet on Twitterâ@OAPLANET. We're also onâ Facebookâ andâ Google+e
Modern-day birds use pygostyles to help them fly but oviraptors were not flying animals they had feathers
Peacocks and turkeys use their tail feathers for courtship displays. Past research has suggested that dinosaurs may have evolved first feathers for show not flight.
I think like peacocks oviraptors were strutting their stuff by shaking their tail feathers to show off Persons said.
and birds that do have big tail-feather fans such as peacocks and turkeys don't try to use them to run at all
#Sipping Tarantula Venom Kills Crop-Eating Insects The venom in a tarantula's fangs packs a lethal punch
A component of the spider venom is especially effective against the cotton bollworm a pest that attacks crop plants.
Globally insect agricultural pests reduce crop yields by 10 percent to 14 percent and damage 9 percent to 20 percent of stored food crops.
but many insects are resistant to them. In the last decade researchers have been investigating bioinsecticides proteins derived from natural sources such as spider venom.
They fed the peptide to termites and cotton bollworms and compared the effects with those of mealworms injected with the peptide.
When ingested by insects the poisonous chemical called orally active insecticidal peptide-1 was as toxic as the synthetic insecticide imidacloprid the group reported today (Sept. 11) in the journal PLOS ONE.
A combination of the venom peptide and synthetic insecticide was even more effective. The venom was more potent against cotton bollworms than against termites and mealworms
which eat stored grains rather than crops results showed. Venoms from other insect-eating animals such as centipedes and scorpions may also contain peptides that could be used as bioinsecticides.
Or scientists could genetically engineer insect-resistant plants or microbes that produce these toxins. The breakthrough discovery that spider toxins can have oral activity has implications not only for their use as bioinsecticides
but also for spider-venom peptides that are being considered for therapeutic use study researcher Glenn King of the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland Australiaâ said in a statement.
Though often too low or too high for human ears to detect insects and animals signal each other with vibrations.
And there is evidence that insects and plants hear each other's sounds. Bees buzz at just the right frequency to release pollen from tomatoes and other flowering plants.
And bark beetles may pick up the air bubble pops inside a plant a hint that trees are experiencing drought stress.
Walnut sphinx caterpillars whistle by forcing air out of holes in their sides. Flying insects perform death drops
when they sense a bat's sonar clicks. Earthworms flee the vibrations of oncoming moles.
Listen to caterpillars communicate with their butts Of course there may be another explanation for the apparent response to sound reported by Gagliano.
Some of the beneficial vibrations also drive away pesky insects that munch on crops. We're not there yet Telewski said of the effort to prove plants communicate.
And the fizzy bubble bursts in xylem are ultrasonic about 300 kilohertz detectable only by insects and some other animals.
After sunset the spiders stand facing down from the odd-looking web waiting for insects to get caught
Edible bugs Eating insects might also fall into the not good category for many Western scientists.
Of course meals from bugs are neither new nor unusual outside of modern Western cultures. Thus many researchers make an effort to overcome their fear of eating bugs
when they travel. I felt both repulsed and attracted by the opportunity to chow down on our study organisms said Nalini Nadkarni an ecologist at the University of Utah.
Nadkarni worked as a field assistant in Papua new guinea during the 1970s studying long-horned beetles (Cerambycids. The group's local assistants would collect beetle larvae during the day and roast them at night.
On the brighter side honeypot ants make an out and out delicious snack according to Joe Sapp an ecology graduate student at the University of California Santa cruz. They are full of nectar
But pop into any in U s. entomology department and one will find plenty of advocates for bug eating.
As a corn entomologist one of my suggestions to corn growers who were plagued by insects was to eat them.
So Turpin concocted corn fritters laced with European corn borers for an insect-cooking demonstration. Edible Bugs to Help Fight World Hunger Turpin also enthusiastically eats raw insects.
He recalls biting down on a raw grub for a TV SHOW on eating insects the cameraman fainted
when juice squirted out. After we revived him we did a second take this time without incident Turpin said.
Also technically a bug eater is Barry Marshall a Nobel prize laureate. Marshall drank a culture containing the microbe H. pylori to prove the bacteria cause stomach ulcers.
but has nibbled never an Antarctic pteropod called the naked sea butterfly (Clione limacina) which makes a chemical antifeedant compound.
and other designs such as two peacocks flanking an amphora a dove and a partridge and one amphora with a pomegranate and a lemonlike fruit inside.
#Surprisingly Simple Logic Explains Amazing Bee Abilities Bumblebees and Pavlov's dogs have something in common:
It really gives us an insight into how complex social-learning behaviors can arise in animals said study researcher Erika Dawson a doctoral student at Queen Mary University of London.
Just by watching another bee forage through a screen a bumblebee could go on to pick the sweetest flowers on its own Dawson said.
In the past few years honeybees have spilled onto highways in Montana Canada and California where 10 million to 16 million angry buzzers responded by stinging firefighters police and drivers.
Honeybee hives are shipped regularly to farms around the country to pollinate crops since colony collapse disorder has decimated local bee populations.
#The Amazing Mating Dance of the Peacock Spider The animal dances and lifts up its tail-flap which once unfurled resembles an abstract Indian blanket of intense color.
Meet the peacock spider. Males from several species within this group of spiders put on remarkable mating displays to win over mates of the opposite gender.
Watch the Peacock Spider's Mating Dance For a creature so tiny most species are around an eighth of an inch (a few millimeters) long the display is surprisingly complex and visual.
What's your favorite thing about peacock spiders? JÃ rgen Otto: I realize that they are colorful but to me that is not the most important aspect since
Incredible Photos of Peacock Spiders I also love the way they interact with their environment how they exhibit fear excitement and curiosity.
How did you first get interested in peacock spiders? J. O.:I did not know anything about them until I stumbled over one during a walk in nearby bushland near Sydney purely by accident.
What is your favorite type of peacock spider? J. O.:That's a really a hard question to answer.
because my obsession with peacock spiders started with that species . However Maratus vespertilio is probably a close second.
How do you film peacock spiders? J. O.:When I started to film them I had no idea about how to go about it.
but it evolved probably in a similar fashion as it did inâ birds of paradise or peacocks a result of sexual selection.
Sexual selection involves the development of exaggerated features like the tail-feathers of a peacock
and the cheeky cuckoo receives all of the adoptive mother's attention. 3. Bloodsucking ants Count Dracula isn't the only creature with a taste for bodily fluids:
The tiny endangered Adetomyrma ant from Madagascar drinks the fluids of its own young. After the queen ant gives birth to her larvae she
and the other worker ants gnaw holes in the larvae and suck out the circulatory system fluid known as haemolymph (the insect equivalent of blood).
Luckily the baby ants survive this so-called nondestructive cannibalism but it can't be very pleasant.
It's not clear why the behavior exists but transferring fluids may be a form of social behavior in the ants scientists say. 4. Monkey baby killers Some animals head off motherhood before it starts to spare their babies undue hardship after they're born.
When a male gelada baboon takes over a breeding group from a previous male he usually kills any babies of the former union.
because there may be other causes like cracks in the wood or insects. But the majority of sounds that occur during cavitations (tiny air bubbles that pop out in the water) are due to these bubbles.
In the eastern United states an invasive sap-sucking bug called the adelgid is also killing off hemlocks.
and many insects (including pests such as bark beetles in the West or gypsy moths in the East) reproduce more quickly and often.
Tracking and understanding those changes requires data a great deal of data deally spread over time and distance.
#Tree-Killing Insects Adapting to Warmer Cities Bizarre-looking bugs known as scale insects may be tiny but they can take down an oak tree.
A new study shows that scale insects are found in big numbers in populous regions because they have adapted to the heat of urban areas.
And if climate change causes temperatures to rise in forests as we expect we may see scale insects becoming a much bigger problem for ecosystem health.
Frank and his colleagues analyzed the Raleigh N c. populations of the oak lecanium scale insect (Parthenolecanium quercifex)
The team then collected scale insect egg sacs from both hot and cool zones and incubated them in hot and cool greenhouses.
In the hot greenhouse the egg sacs from the warmest urban zones produced almost four times as many insects as the egg sacs from cooler urban zones.
and the fertility rates among the insects from both hot and cold zones of the city but they did not find any significant differences.
The scientists concluded that the bugs have adapted locally in response to urban warming. The scale insects in the hotter urban zones appear to have adapted
or acclimated to the higher temperatures in urban environments study researcher Emily Meineke a doctoral student at NC State said in the statement.
Rising numbers of scale insects in cities could spell trouble for city trees which can provide some environmental benefits like cooling through shade and carbon sequestration.
And if global temperatures continue to rise scale insects could spread outside cities and infest more rural trees the researchers warn.
Beetles scorpions and other insects may not be found on most restaurant menus at least in the Western world
which the group outlined the potential of edible insects to help alleviate food insecurity in the present and future.
Although eating insects may sound like a strange prospect to some people such broad-minded thinking may be necessary at a time
Feeding the growing population will likely require a number of different strategies from creating new crop varieties and reducing food waste to yes eating insects with efforts from governments farmers the private sector and consumers themselves.
And don't forget the insects. Beetles wasps grasshoppers and other insects are very efficient at converting the food they eat into body mass take up very little space
and emit fewer greenhouse gases than livestock according to the U n.'s FAO report. Although eating insects comes with an ick factor for many Westerners bugs are a part of the diet of about 2 billion people worldwide according to the report.
Grow differently Farmers could also focus on growing crops that provide the most calories while using the fewest resources said Clay of the WWF.
Measuring Insect Indecision (Op-Ed) This article was published originally atâ The Conversation. Â The publication contributed the article to Livescience'sâ Expert Voices:
But whether a small and relatively simple brained animal such as an insect can do so has not even been considered until now.
whether an insect with a brain the size of a sesame seed could actually monitor uncertainty?
Whether an insect monitors uncertainty or only appears to honey bees are able to selectively avoid making decisions
It's a favorite host plant of the zebra swallowtail butterfly whose larvae feed on the leaves.
Bees and other insects show little interest in the pawpaw flower so hand-pollination is required sometimes.)
that belong to the same family as spiders chiggers and ticks. These culprits are hardy creatures that live well
and is saved inside the beehive for eating during times of scarcity. But how do bees make honey?
When a honeybee returns to the hive it passes the nectar to another bee by regurgitating the liquid into the other bee's mouth.
And that's why birds do it bees do it    Even educated fleas do it    Let's do it let's fall in love The phrase also appeared in a 1939 issue of the Freeport Journal Standard:
Diesel Throws Honeybees Off the Trail Diesel pollution snuffs out floral odors interfering with honeybees'ability to find
Honeybees use both visual and olfactory cues to recognize flowersâ that produce nectar in return for insect pollination.
Honeybee Scouts Find Food Diesel alters floral scents The researchers specifically explored whether nitrogen oxides a group of highly reactive gases released by diesel combustion are capable of altering floral odors to an extent that would dampen a bee's ability to recognize desirable flowers.
Honeybee smell recognition The researchers also conditioned a group of honeybees to recognize the synthetic floral odor by repeatedly exposing them to it in conjunction with a nectar reward.
since honeybees pollinate about 70 percent of crop foods across the world which accounts for about 35 percent of the global food supply.
Global honeybee populations have declined dramatically within the past decade or so due to a condition called colony collapse disorder
and also plans to study the neurological effects of nitrogen oxide gases on the honeybee brain.
precipitation sunlight temperatures and disease and insect infestations volcanic eruptions and fire. Near the core of a tree rings will be tighter and darker
Invasives and other effects Warming has brought already the hemlock wooly adelgid northward devastating hemlock trees Iverson said.
The adelgid is clearly a climate change-related pest limited by temperature he said. As climate change continues to alter habitats sending insects
and fungi into new regions invasive species could have even more dramatic effects on fall trees Neufeld said.
In the case of Iran the demonstration is more of a show said Kenneth Halberg a researcher at the University of Copenhagen who studies aquatic bugs'ability to survive spacelike conditions.
To that end Halberg studies how a water bug called a tardigrade can withstand spacelike conditions. The water bugs dehydrate
and go into an extreme hibernation with zero metabolism he said thereby withstanding the punishing radiation desiccation and frigid temperatures of space.
and pollinating insects may be one way for humans to feed themselves on a Mars mission.
But pollinators for instance could be confused by the zero pressure or weightless environment of space. And fruits and vegetables may not have the same life cycle in space Halberg said.
but not if it's killed by a severe fire or insect outbreak in 2030.
In other regions climate change will affect the insect population their stings and bites can provoke fatal allergic reactions in sensitive individuals as well as the proliferation of such vines as poison ivy.
Symptoms include a runny nose hives trouble breathing and puffiness or swelling around the mouth and lips.
#Butterflies Caught Lapping Up Crocodile Tears Crocodile tears may be drinks for thirsty butterflies and bees new research reveals.
The insects likely rely on croc tears for salt. The discovery was made when aquatic ecologistcarlos de la Rosa was sailing on a slow quiet boat down the Puerto Viejo River in northeastern Costa rica with researchers students
and filmed butterflies and bees fluttering about the corners of the eyes of a spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus) a crocodilian that can reach up to 8. 2 feet (2. 5 meters) long that was basking on the riverbank.
The insects were drinking the giant reptile's tears. See Video of Butterflies Drinking Croc Tears
& Tear-Drinking Images It was one of those natural history moments that you long to see up close de la Rosa said in a statement.
Why are these insects tapping into this resource? Although salt is plentiful in the ocean the molecule technically known as sodium chloride is often a rare and valuable resource on land.
These new findings support a 2012 report of a bee sipping the tears of a yellow-spotted river turtle in Ecuador's Yasunã National park. Similar findings were seen with butterflies drinking the tears of yellow-spotted river
and reproduction of these insects there are also proteins enzymes and micronutrients that could also play a role in the fitness of the insects tapping this resource de la Rosa said.
Not a lot has been published on these topics and all published reports indicate the need for further research.
The reptiles may allow insects to drink tears simply because they do not care or cannot easily drive them away.
The caiman seemed very tolerant of both the butterfly and the bee de la Rosa said.
The insects definitely seem to benefit but we don't know what if any benefits are received by the caimans.
#7 Animals That Wore Backpacks for Science From falcons to cockroaches a myriad of different animals have donned backpacks in the name of science.
The videos showed that falcons fly in such a way that their prey remains motionless in the raptors'sight
Stars of the Animal kingdom Cockroaches When you see a cockroach crawling toward you have wished you ever you could just steer it away like a remote-controlled car?
A group of researchers from North carolina State university in Raleigh made this possible by implanting electrodes in the body of a Madagascar hissing cockroach.
and microcontroller to the insect's back using the equipment to control the roach's movement.
Peacocks With their stunning plumage peacocks already have a knack for style. But researchers at the University of California Davis and Duke university wanted to know what parts of the flashy males'display catch a female's or peahen's eye.
It turns out the peacock gals were mostly looking at the lower part of their suitor's feathers
and off the California coast and identified danger zones where extensive fishing may harm the turtles according to Discovery. com. Dragonflies In a laboratory in Ashburn Virginia researchers are studying dragonflies by strapping tiny backpacks to the insects.
The diminutive luggage records the signals from an insect's nerve cells while it's chasing after its prey National geographic reported.
The backpacks though don't have straps they're actually glued onto the dragonfly's shoulders
and contain a tiny wire that plugs into the neurons of the insect's spinal cord.
Shortly after eating a slice of blueberry pie the girl experienced facial flushing hives and abnormal breathing.
However when I tested the app there seemed to be a few bugs in communication between Myfitnesspal and Apple Health:
Few insect pests are known to exist in hemp crops and fungal diseases are rare. Since hemp plants shade the ground quickly after sowing they can outgrow weeds a trait interesting especially for organic farmers.
#Bees'Salt-Sensing Feet Explain Swimming pool Mystery The first-ever investigation of the honeybee ability to taste with their front feet may explain a persistent bee mystery:
Apparently they attract honeybees en masse. Now scientists find that bees have taste receptors on their feet that are so sensitive to salt that they even dwarf the bees'capacity to taste sweets.
The results are important for understanding the honeybee sensory system and potentially for figuring out how pesticides might harm these important pollinators and critical lab models for cognitive research.
Sweet foot Thanks to its impressive navigational skills the honeybee (Apis mellifera) is a model organism used by researchers to understand the mechanisms of learning and memory.
Many scientists had investigated the bee's sense of sight and smell Giurfa said but one sense had been left out.
Like other insects bees don't confine their sense of taste to their mouths. They also taste using their antennae and the surfaces of their feet.
Salt-seeking bees Unsurprisingly given bees'need for nectar the insects'feet are incredibly sensitive to sugar.
and to carry back to their hives to help larvae develop Giurfa said. Thus homeowners'trendy saltwater pools attract bees like flies to honey.
Finally the study researchers found that bees don't seem to sense bitterness. They don't retract their tongues in response to the taste nor do their cells show an electrical reaction to bitter substances Giurfa said.
and researchers have turned their attention to how pesticides might affect the honeybee navigation system memory and brain function.
I really do think it helps with some of the major insect problems that we have Robert Venette a biologist with the U s. Forest Service in Minnesota told NPR. 6 Invasive Pests Threatened by Cold weather The Earth's average temperature warmed 1. 53
Many of the creatures with expanded ranges are invasive pests like the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) and the hemlock wooly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) both
and not for one night but for an extended period there's a tendency for a lot of people to hope for insect mortality Deborah Mccullough a professor of entomology
But not all bugs succumb easily to icy weather and subfreezing temperatures. The emerald ash borer which burrows beneath the bark of ash trees to feed on the water
Other insects use antifreeze proteins to keep their internal organs functioning in subzero weather. Insects go through a physiologically intense process of acclimatization in the fall
and there're actually changes in their bodies Mccullough told CNS. It's the equivalent of having antifreeze.
Populations of hemlock wooly adelgids which kill evergreens by feeding on the plants'needles year-round are expected to plummet.
The lethal temperature for the woolly adelgid is minus 4 or 5 degrees Fahrenheit negative 20 or negative 21 degrees C Richard S. Cowles a scientist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station told The New york times. I was cheering a couple of days ago
because most of the adelgids will be dying from the temperatures we saw. Other vulnerable pests include the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) the brown marmorated stinkbug (Halyomorpha halys) and ticks (Ixodes sp.
which can transmit Lyme disease and other illnesses. However while subzero weather might reduce the populations of invasive pests it's unlikely to completely eradicate them experts caution.
I spend my days were talking about a metallic green insect called the emerald ash borer
Asian Carp Spread to Upper Mississippi In my home state of Ohio people who love natural areas are about to get such a cold wet slap in the face in the form of the hemlock woolly adelgid#a tiny aphid-like insect
Brought to the United states about 40 years ago on imported nursery stock the insect has spread throughout eastern forests.
Those trees will likely be gone before too long victims of the adelgid #and the guides say rafters will notice the change
I didn't tell them that before my grandchildren are grown the adelgid is likely to kill those hemlocks as they have up to 90 percent of the hemlocks in the Great smoky mountains national park in The Nature Conservancy's Greenland Gap Preserve in West virginia
Experiments with a tiny Asian beetle that is a natural predator to the adelgid show some promise in keeping the insects in check.
And scientists are working on an adelgid-resistant strain of hemlock. In the meantime expensive chemical treatments may keep enough hemlocks alive long enough to find a solution. 6 Invasive Pests Threatened by Cold weather Next time
I'll be sure to tell people about the threats to our forests from insect pests
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