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Entomology meeting, Things Learned
Nov. 17th, 2014 03:18 pm1. There are two major methods by which developing animals specify which cells will grow up to be reproductive tissue. One method, used by fast-growing animals, involves the establishment of a signaling gradient prior to cell differentiation. The other method involves local communication among cells after some cell division has occurred. The current state of the field involves connecting gene transcription patterns to developmental processes using transcriptomic methods (basically, measuring the amounts of all of the oodles of RNA present in different cells at different developmental time points). These methods are expensive, both in terms of sequencing costs (fancy machines that go Bing!), and the labor involved in data analysis.
2. Beekeepers frequently supplement beehives with extra protein sources. This might be okay if the protein supplementation only occurred occasionally, but in many cases people have gone beyond supplementation to constant supply. The problem with this is that many of the bee nutritional supplements have imbalanced amino acid profiles compared to the AA profile of pollen mixtures. This poses problems for honey bee colony performance (in terms of immunocompetence).
3. Some adult solitary bees are income-breeders who must feed on pollen as adults in order to mature and lay eggs.
4. As shown through a fairly simple lab assay, crazy ants can outcompete fire ants for food at intermediate and warm temperatures, but fire ants do better at a cooler temperature, probably in association with their comparatively larger body size.
5. Nosema is a microbial gut parasite in honey bees. Honey bees given pollen that has been diluted out with indigestible cellulose, and inoculated with Nosema, have fewer Nosema in their guts, but also have lower survival and a less favorable nutritional state than honey bees given full-concentration pollen. So, is Nosema really a gut parasite, after all?
6. If you rear Schistocerca americana grasshoppers in isolation (solitarious behavior), and then expose them to a high density of conspecifics for as little time as one hour, they'll switch to behaving like S. americana grasshoppers reared under crowded conditions (gregarious behavior).
7. Either I am getting sick, or there's something in the frozen Portland air that's invoking a sinus headache and allergies. Seems like an unusual time of year for allergies.
2. Beekeepers frequently supplement beehives with extra protein sources. This might be okay if the protein supplementation only occurred occasionally, but in many cases people have gone beyond supplementation to constant supply. The problem with this is that many of the bee nutritional supplements have imbalanced amino acid profiles compared to the AA profile of pollen mixtures. This poses problems for honey bee colony performance (in terms of immunocompetence).
3. Some adult solitary bees are income-breeders who must feed on pollen as adults in order to mature and lay eggs.
4. As shown through a fairly simple lab assay, crazy ants can outcompete fire ants for food at intermediate and warm temperatures, but fire ants do better at a cooler temperature, probably in association with their comparatively larger body size.
5. Nosema is a microbial gut parasite in honey bees. Honey bees given pollen that has been diluted out with indigestible cellulose, and inoculated with Nosema, have fewer Nosema in their guts, but also have lower survival and a less favorable nutritional state than honey bees given full-concentration pollen. So, is Nosema really a gut parasite, after all?
6. If you rear Schistocerca americana grasshoppers in isolation (solitarious behavior), and then expose them to a high density of conspecifics for as little time as one hour, they'll switch to behaving like S. americana grasshoppers reared under crowded conditions (gregarious behavior).
7. Either I am getting sick, or there's something in the frozen Portland air that's invoking a sinus headache and allergies. Seems like an unusual time of year for allergies.
