Article in the NYTimes
(Image from Wikimedia by Mila Zinkova)
8/21/10
A nice example of convergent evolution? Not so fast....
Puffer fish toxins probably come from their diet, and remarkably, pufferfish have gene mutations that make them resistant to the effects of the toxins. Furthermore, other species, like snakes, have evolved resistance to these toxins!
Article in the NYTimes
(Image from Wikimedia by Mila Zinkova)
Article in the NYTimes
(Image from Wikimedia by Mila Zinkova)
Why do female great apes (including humans) and female whales go through menopause?
It's about trading off between having new offspring, and investing in current offspring. I'd hazard a guess that it's more likely to evolve in cooperatively breeding groups with long lifespans....
Article on BBC
Read more about the "Grandmother Hypothesis"
Article on BBC
Read more about the "Grandmother Hypothesis"
Evidence of Sexually Selected Traits in Prehistoric Animals
Apparently many of the elaborate and bizarre traits found on "dinosaurs" were a result of either male-male competition or female choice!
Article on BBC
Article on BBC
8/18/10
Essay collection from Colorado State University
I was looking up references on eusocial aphids for a paper I'm working on, and found this nicely written review article by Tim Judd. Always a sucker for working my way up complex URL's, I found that there is a large collection of student essays on all sorts of interesting entomological topics. Check it out!
(p.s. I think the prof is Louis Bjostad)
For example:
For example:
Sexy-time with myself... scared snails do it alone!
Josh Auld (2010) found that scared snails (exposed to signals from predators) will reproduce by themselves rather than wait to find a partner to exchange eggs and sperm with.
Abstract:
Environmental effects on mating system expression are central to understanding mating system evolution in nature. Here, I report the results from a quantitative-genetic experiment aimed at understanding the role of predation risk in the expression and evolution of life-history and mating-system traits in a hermaphroditic freshwater snail (Physa acuta). I reared 30 full-sib families in four environments that factorially contrast predation risk and mate availability and measured age/size at first reproduction, growth rate, a morphological defense, and the early survival of outcrossed/selfed eggs that were laid under predator/no-predator conditions. I evaluated the genetic basis of trade-offs among traits and the stability of the G matrix across environments. Mating reduced growth while predation risk increased growth, but the effects of mating were weaker for predator-induced snails and the effects of predation risk were weaker for snails without mates. Predation risk reduced the amount of time that individuals waited before self-fertilizing and reduced inbreeding depression in the offspring. There was a positive among-family relationship between the amount of time that individuals delayed selfing under predation risk and the magnitude of inbreeding depression. These results highlight several potential roles of enemies in mating-system expression and evolution.
6/10/10
Male pregnancy: The dark side
SUMMARY: New research shows evidence for cryptic mate choice in Gulf pipefish. This is supported by two observations. First, males that mate with larger ("more desirable") females raise broods that have a higher survivorship. Second, embryo success in consecutive broods is negatively correlated. These observations show that males preferentially invest their limited resources into raising broods produced by "more desirable" females.
PS, Thanks Melissa for these links!
5/30/10
Excellent Idea!!
I came across a fantastic website today- Suzy Renn at Reed College teaches Animal Behavior. As part of the course, students pair up, choose a focal topic and create a web page that tackles the topic from the perspective of Niko Tinbergen's 4 questions:
- How does it work?
- How did it develop?
- What is it for?
- How did it evolve?
Some titles to whet your appetite!
Love Dart Shooting in Simultaneously Hermaphroditic Snails
Bed bug bumping Booties
Magnetic orientation
Bumble bee defense
ScienceDaily (2010-05-29) -- Toxic or venomous animals, like bumblebees, are often brightly colored to tell would-be predators to keep away. However scientists in the UK have found a bumblebee's defense could extend further than its distinctive color pattern and may indeed be linked to their characteristic shape, flight pattern or buzzing sound.
Eciton Army Ants- silent movie by Alex Wild
One of the top small critter photographers out there is Alex Wild (visit his site here). Here's a short video of Eciton army ants.
Winged Migration
Winged migration is a great documentary about the drama of migration in birds. The above video is part 1/8 (I'm sure you'll figure out how to see the rest of it!!)
Plagues of Locusts
5/16/10
RRraaawwrrr.... all about Lions
The Lion Research Center is led by Craig Packer, and is arguably the top research group on lion behavior. The website has an extensive publication list (all one-click-pdfs) on virtually all the components of the life history of lions.
My favorite set of experiments were the choice experiments with stuffed lion toys, showing that dark manes are both more intimidating to males and attractive to females. There are a few videos as well!
Photo from the Lion Research Center
5/12/10
Go to Yale and learn Game Theory
Part of a series of lectures by Steven Stearns at Yale University. Yale University launched a program called Open Yale- where lecturers save all their course materials (including audio and video) and publish them freely online. Take a quick course in....
1. Freshman Organic Chemistry
2. Principles of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Behavior
3. Civil War and Reconstruction Era
4. Game Theory
....and much much more.
I haven't sat down and gone through the whole EEB course yet. I'll let you know what I think in a few days. In the meantime, you've got something to learn!!
Meerkat Family Breakfast
Effects of Helpers on Juvenile Development and Survival in Meerkats
Although breeding success is known to increase with group size in several cooperative mammals, the mechanisms underlying these relationships are uncertain. We show that in wild groups of cooperative meerkats, Suricata suricatta, reductions in the ratio of helpers to pups depress the daily weight gain and growth of pups and the daily weight gain of helpers. Increases in the daily weight gain of pups are associated with heavier weights at independence and at 1 year of age, as well as with improved foraging success as juveniles and higher survival rates through the first year of life. These results suggest that the effects of helpers on the fitness of pups extend beyond weaning and that helpers may gain direct as well as indirect benefits by feeding pups.
Clutton-Brock et al. (2001)
Science 28 September 2001:
Vol. 293. no. 5539, pp. 2446 - 2449
DOI: 10.1126/science.1061274
5/11/10
The Alcon Blue Butterfly
This is a video excerpt from "Intimate Relations" an episode of Life in the Undergrowth (BBC).
The plot thickens... butterfly larvae in the ants' nests are susceptible to parasitoid wasps....
Reference:
The plot thickens... butterfly larvae in the ants' nests are susceptible to parasitoid wasps....
Reference:
A Mosaic of Chemical Coevolution in a Large Blue Butterfly
Nash et al.
Science 4 January 2008: 88-90
DOI: 10.1126/science.1149180
Science 4 January 2008: 88-90
DOI: 10.1126/science.1149180
Bonobos
This video on the Bonobo chimp shows their high level of cognitive ability and their strong similarity to humans.
Susan Savage-Rumbaugh on apes | Video on TED.com
Susan Savage-Rumbaugh on apes | Video on TED.com
"Pied piper" for bees?
How does a bee colony "decide" when to swarm? Apparently a small number of individuals perform a behavior called "piping" that triggers the group to follow them.
How cooperation is maintained in human societies
Humans are incredibly cooperative, but why do people cooperate and how is cooperation maintained? A new research study by UCLA anthropology professor Robert Boyd and his colleagues from the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico suggests cooperation in large groups is maintained by punishment.
Link to Article on ScienceDaily
5/7/10
Intelligence of crows
New Caledonian Crow by Vince Musi for National Geographic Magazine. ©2008 All Rights Reserved
5/5/10
Recommended Reads
Agony aunt for the bizarre, Dr. Tatiana answers difficult questions e.g.
"Don't Wanna Be Butch in Botswana" writes, "I'm a spotted hyena, a girl. The only trouble is, I've got a large phallus. I can't help feeling that this is unladylike. What's wrong with me?"
Recommended for a good laugh, but chock-full of fantastic biology!!
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation
5/3/10
E.O. Wilson on saving life on Earth
"If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos."E.O. Wilson on saving life on Earth | Video on TED.com
What is in store?
The major topics that will be covered include:
Posts will be tagged with the topic titles, concepts, and species names so that it's easy to navigate. I will include lots of links to multimedia.
- Natural selection and behavior
- Levels of selection and analysis
- Genes and behavior
- Communication
- Sexual selection
- Mating systems
- Parental care
- Social behavior and group living
- Kin selection and reciprocity
- Reproductive skew & game theory
- Habitat selection
- Neurobiology and behavior
- Hormones and behavior
- Feeding and foraging
- Defensive behavior
- Evolution of human behavior
Posts will be tagged with the topic titles, concepts, and species names so that it's easy to navigate. I will include lots of links to multimedia.
Big Black Ants
I am a myrmecologist who will be teaching Animal Behavior this summer at Arizona State University. This blog will serve as a bulletin board for articles and links that are either for the course, or "just ant stuff".
Welcome and enjoy!
Students: the major forum for course materials/assignments/discussion etc is Blackboard.
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