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Tag: "insect" at biology news

Ants, not evil spirits, create devil's gardens in the Amazon rainforest, study finds

... tree actively patrolled by worker ants. A sticky insect barrier was applied to one cedar sapling to exclude ants, while the other sapling was left untreated. The researchers planted two additional saplings--one treated, one untreated--about 150 feet outside of each garden but within the primary rainforest...

Vineyard weeds found to host Pierce's disease of grapes

...sease is controlled by reducing populations of the insect vector, either through insecticide sprays or habitat modification to remove insect breeding host plants. Our study reinforces the need for weed control in irrigation ditches and roads...

Reversal of role for a viral protein associated with the development of lymphoma

...s been conserved over tens of millions of years of insect evolution and also appears likely to occur in huma...hylogenetic analyses of several fruitfly and other insect species. "Our experimental results agreed with the computational findings, indicating that these r...

Carnegie Mellon University research reveals how cells process large genes

...s been conserved over tens of millions of years of insect evolution and also appears likely to occur in huma...hylogenetic analyses of several fruitfly and other insect species. "Our experimental results agreed with the computational findings, indicating that these r...

Gap-climbing fruit flies reveal components of goal-driven behaviors

...in the new work profoundly changes our view of how insect behavior is composed and employed in response to the environment. ...

University of Nevada, Reno research team discovers hormone that causes malaria mosquito to urinate

...prene, an insecticide that halts the maturation of insect larvae to adults. Methoprene, which has the same effect as an insect hormone called juvenile hormone, also stops the insect from reproducing. It is being used heavily th...

Insects develop resistance to engineered crops

...ing a single Bt toxic protein might play a role in insect resistance to transgenic crops expressing two inse...use, there have been no reports of crop failure or insect resistance in the field to genetically modified Bt crops, Shelton said. Still, several insects have ...

Bumblebees copy one another when contending with unfamiliar flowers

...the ever-growing stack of evidence suggesting that insect foraging behavior is surprisingly complex. ...

Tufts researchers shine light on firefly mysteries

...onflict." In a collaborative research effort with insect physiologist and Tufts postdoctoral research fellow Dr. William Woods, Lewis is also examining other questions, such as how much energy the males' "flashy" courtship displays require--an effort that will involve laboratory testing in tiny respirometr...

Novel compounds show promise as safer, more potent insecticides

... they have cloned ryanodine receptors from several insect species and that these receptors may help provide a better understanding of their role in calcium signaling, which could lead to new insights into human diseases. The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization, chartered by the U.S. Congr...

How monarch butterflies are wired for navigation

...he scientists manipulated the light reaching their insect subjects and measured the navigational response. In their studies, the researchers discovered that ultraviolet photoreceptors dominated in the region of the butterfly visual system known to specialize in polarized light detection. To confirm that th...

Fungus-farming termites descend from an African rain forest Eve

Agriculture is not unique to humans: some insect groups have also evolved this way of life. One such group is the fungus-farming termites, which cultivate fungi as food inside their nests. Such termites can be found in both rain forest and savannah habitats in the Old World tropics, from Africa to ...

Researchers discover key gene involved in bark beetle pheromone production

... hundred species of bark beetles, which are in the insect family Scolytidae. These beetles are difficult to control via insecticides because they live almost all of their lives, from eggs to adults, burrowed under thick bark where they are protected. Only for a few hours do they fly from one tree to another...

Alien woodwasp, threat to US pine trees, found in N.Y.

...s red flags across the nation because the invasive insect species has devastated up to 80 percent of pine tr...ion associate in entomology. "Whenever you find an insect in a trap, it probably is established." Hoebeke was sifting through thousands of bark beetles caugh...

Beneficial Beetles Battle Pesky Saltcedar

...ltcedar's scale-like leaves. That happens when the insect is in its caterpillar-like larval stage or has matured into a quarter-inch-long adult beetle. Besides disrupting the natural surroundings needed by native plants, birds, fish and other forms of life, saltcedar plays havoc with farm roads and fields....

Bugs, even 'bad' ones, can be educationally beneficial, new book says

...1. Not only do insects interact with people, some insect species share characteristics with humans, Waldbauer said. For example, the tsetse fly has an analogue of a mammalian uterus. "Milk-secreting glands that empty into the 'uterus' feed the developing larva. Tsetse milk is white and chemically similar t...

Insects, viruses could hold key for better human teamwork in disasters

...ugh human social systems are far more complex than insect societies, where a reduced set of rules govern the behavior of each insect for a given situation and the group's behavior emerges from such interactions, these models may be u...

NHGRI targets 12 more organisms for genome sequencing

...sea slug (Aplysia californica); a disease-carrying insect (Rhodnius prolixus); a pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pi...sum); a wasp (Nasonia vitripennis) and two related insect species (Nasonia giraulti and Nasonia longicornis); a free-living soil amoeba (Acanthamoeba castella...

Alarm pheromone causes aphids to sprout wings

Chemical communication within insect species is often much more sophisticated than expe...Thus, to reduce damage caused by aphids, the major insect pests in Europe, it may prove effective to apply pulses of alarm pheromone to infested fields. ...

Stealth Worms May Improve Insect Pest Control

...a. "We study these nematodes -- which are actually insect killers -- not only to understand how diverse they...ia in its intestine that specifically kill certain insect species. Nematodes in the family Steinernematidae are associated with Xenorhabdus bacteria; those in...

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