News from Singapore!

2013 Zoology graduate Connor Butler sent in lots of entomology links (thank you Connor!)

I still really like reading SEEN so I thought I’d send you some entomology articles I’ve read recently. The first is a really interesting article from 2012 on ant mimicking Staphylinid beetles, known as myrmecophiles. Having evolved elaborate morphological and behavioural modifications, they’ve managed to exploit the social system of the ants, using pheromones to encourage the ants to directly feed the beetles. It’s long but really interesting. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/12/10/the-bizarre-beetle-biased-world-of-social-insect-exploitation/
The second is a recent article also about the exploitation of ants. It’s been discovered that Maculinea caterpillars mimic the sounds made by the queen Myrmica ants, who then carry the 2-week-old caterpillars into their nests, where they are given food and treated like royalty. http://news.sciencemag.org/plants-animals/2014/10/butterflies-learn-speak-ants
The third is an article about the repellent properties of DEET. Scientists at the University of California have discovered the exact odorant receptor that makes DEET an effective repellent towards mosquitos, but since DEET is a synthetic chemical, it was previously unknown as to why insects would have such a reaction to it. They then detected a link between DEET and methyl jasmonate, a compound used in plant defence, thus suggesting that DEET might work by mimicking a defensive compound from plants. http://entomologytoday.org/2014/10/27/scientists-find-mosquito-receptors-that-make-deet-effective-as-repellent/

Two links from Amber Hafeez (thank you Amber!)

Recruiting ‘citizen scientists’ to report info on starling murmurations accross the country and a bit about mathematical modelling http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29599792#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
How prey foraging effort is affected by danger http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/cgi/content/short/281/1796/20141952?rss=1

Get out to the New Forest (as promoted by Becks Spake, thank you Becks!)

Autumn is arguably the most beautiful time of year to visit the New Forest, and it’s right on our door step. Bolderwood deer sanctuary is a great place to visit, and you’re very likely to see deer at this time of year http://www.new-forest-national-park.com/bolderwood-deer-sanctuary.html

Helping the bees in your garden (from Dan Bolt, thank you Dan!)

Here’s a relatively interesting newspaper article about what we can do to help provide forage for bees in our gardens. Although the article is primarily about bees, the mimicry of a fly appears to have fooled the guardian into using it in their primary picture! http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/nov/04/bees-uk-protect-liz-truss-pollinating-lawnmower?commentpage=2

Staff contributor of the week goes to Rob Holland, who sent in 3 links to ensure that he would win the highly-coveted title (thank you Rob!):

More than half of world’s wildlife population lost

Following the 12^th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity this month WWF released the latest figures from its Living Planet Report painting a bleak picture of wildlife populations around the world. The report finds that species populations worldwide have declined by 52 per cent since 1970 with a 76 per cent decline in freshwater species.

http://en.ria.ru/world/20141018/194272371/More-Than-Half-of-Worlds-Wildlife-Population-Lost-World-Wide.html

Sex ’emerged in ancient Scottish lake’

A study published in Nature this month traces the history of sex back to a fish called Microbrachius dicki which lived in lakes in what is now Scotland around 385 million years ago. The fish is the first known animal to stop reproducing by spawning and instead use internal fertilisation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29661446

Ancient African fish dust nourishes Amazon

The Amazon is being fertilised by the remains of ancient fish blown over from Africa in nutrient rich dust according to a study published this month in the journal Chemical Geology. The dust contains the remains of fish that swam thousands of years ago in Megalake Chad, a massive body of water that covered north central Africa.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29361002

The Rob Gandola section (thank you Rob!)

PhD opportunities

@ University of Manchester ‘Contraception use in captive animal management: understanding long-term health, behavioural and reproductive impacts‘

Dr. S Schulltz

http://www.findaphd.com/search/ProjectDetails.aspx?PJID=57412