Ants and aphids are two highly common and successful insect groups that often occur in the same habitats which greatly increases their chances of interacting with one another (Stadler and Dixon 2005). The outcome of these interactions can be either negative (predatory) or positive (mutualistic) depending on what each partner can offer to the other (Stadler and Dixon 2005). Mutualism is defined as an interaction between two species that has a reciprocal positive effect on the overall fitness of both partners (Stadler and Dixon 2005), but can also be viewed as complementary exploitation that results in net benefits for each partner (Flatt and Weisser 2000).
Many aphid species are partners in mutualistic relationships with several ant taxa (Flatt and Weisser 2000). The degree of this mutualism can be either obligate or facultative depending on several ecological and physiological factors (Stadler and Dixon 2005). Aphids produce nourishing, sugar-rich honeydew which ants can procure by stroking the aphids’ anus or nectar organ with their antennae (Yao and Akimoto 2001). In return, ants offer the aphids protection from predators and parasitoids (Yao and Akimoto 2001). Ants also can perform hygienic services for the aphid colony by removing exuviae and excrement which decreases the risk of fungal growth (Detrain et al. 2010). Honeydew-collecting ants involved in these interactions include the subfamilies Formicinae and Dolichoderinae, as well as several species in the Myrmica and Tetramorium genera of the Myrmicinae subfamily (Stadler and Dixon 2005).
Aphids are phytophagous homopterans that evolved about 280 million years ago in the Carboniferous and now comprise nearly 4000 extant species (Stadler and Dixon 2005). Their diet consists ...
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...en mutualism and exploitation: the symbiotic interaction between Lasius ants and aphids. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 49:304-310.
Stadler, B. and A. Dixon. 2005. Ecology and evolution of aphid-ant interactions. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 36:345-372.
Stadler, B. and A. Dixon. 2008. Mutualism: Ants and Their Insect Partners. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Tegelaar, K., Hagman, M., Glinwood, R., Pettersson, J. and O. Leimar. 2012. Ant-aphid mutualism: the influence of ants on the aphid summer cycle. Oikos 121:61-66.
Yao, I. and S. Akimoto. 2001. Ant attendance changes the sugar composition of the honeydew of the drepanosiphid aphid Tuberculatus quercicola. Oecologia 128:36-43.
Zhang, S., Zhang, Y. and K. Ma. 2012. Disruption of ant-aphid mutualism in canopy enhances the abundance of beetles on the forest floor. PLoS ONE 7(4):1-5.
..., Department of Zoology, Miami University, Oxford, OH, Available from Journal of Insect Physiology. (46 (2000) 655–661)Retrieved from http://www.units.muohio.edu/cryolab/publications/documents/IrwinLee00.pdf
By listing down enough accurate examples to prove his thesis, Thomas presents a clear structured and logically organized essay. For instance, the essay focuses on the steps of building “the Hill”, a collective process that consists in using the efficient group thinking to develop knowledge (233-34). Starting with a unique ant and adding others one by one, Lewis Thomas clearly illustrates the progressive creation of the organism (233). It also emphasizes the importance of understanding the different animals’ way of living and working as an entity, since humans are part of an organism as well. Additionally, Thomas’ description of the beehive’s construction and organization to expand the family is relevant to provide basic knowledge on the subject while reinforcing Thomas’ authority on the topic. Bees form a communal intelligence that builds “symmetrical polygons” and spreads out their “family genome” when half of the members are led by the new queen (234-35). According to Thomas, this collaboration and transmission of information is also observed in the men’s activities. Thus, this other detailed explanation provides a logical reason to the author’s thesis. In short, the processes are effectively used, along with scientific terminology, to present the similar procedures mankind and other life forms daily
Abstract: The house cricket, Acheta domesticus, was used to test whether food and potential mates drive aggressive behavior. Male crickets were randomly selected in pairs and place into a cage to observe aggressive behaviors in the presence of no food, food, and female. The cage provided a confine area for the crickets to fight one another while the variables of food and female were used in attempts of increasing aggressive interactions between the male crickets. There was no significance found through this experiment due to a lack of data. It was discovered that the experiment would have to be done at a larger scale to be able to see any significance in the two variables.
In the next essay, "On societies as organisms," Thomas points out that the writers of books on insect behavior go to great lengths to distinguish the uniqueness of insect life.
Cranshaw, Whitney. "Nuisance Wasps and Bees." Nuisance Wasps and Bees. Colorado State University, 08 Jan. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
But the ants that showed up at our experiment were total morons. You'd watch one, and it would sprint up to a Cocoa Krispie, and then stop suddenly, as if saying: "Yikes! Compared with me, this Cocoa Krispie is the size of a Buick!" then it would sprint off in a random direction. Sometimes it would sprint back; sometimes it would sprint to another Cocoa Krispie and act surprised again. but it never seemed to do anything. There were thousands of ants behaving this way, and every single time two of them met, they'd both stop and exchange "high-fives" with their antennas, along with, I assume, some kind of ant pleasantries ("Hi Bob! "No, I'm Bill!" "Sorry! You look just like Bob!"). This was repeated millions of times. I watched these ants for two days, and they accomplished nothing. It was exactly like highway construction. It wouldn't have surprised me if some ants started waving orange flags to direct other insects around the area.
The Cockroach (Blaptica Dubai) was obtained from the laboratory personnel at UNM. The cricket (Acheta domesticus) was purchased from a pet store in Albuquerque called Clark’s Emporium. The cockroach was raised in an opaque plastic box that contained egg shell cartons. The roaches were in a room temperature environment. Every day they were fed dog food, vegetables and provided with adequate amounts of water provided by polysaccharide water crystals. The Cricket was maintained in a glass tank with eggshell cartons at room temperature. They were fed “Total Bites” once a day. Total Bites are gel food that provided them with both nutrients and water.
Apis mellifera, commonly known as the European or western honey bee is a eusocial insect. Eusociality is a term used to describe living in cooperative groups in which one female and several males are reproductively active (Winston, 1981). All the non-breeding individuals of the group care for the young or protect and provide for the whole group. With these insects practicing eusociality, their hives contain one queen, a fertile female, who has all the offspring in the colony. The hive contains a few drones, males, to mate with the queen. Also, the hive contains thousands of workers, infertile females, whose duties include keeping the hive clean, building the wax combs of the hive, tending the young, and foraging for food (Engel, 2001). Honey bees need to communicate within their colonies to perform all these tasks.
As useful as their tongue is for collecting nectar it is useless in capturing insects hidden inside flowers, even though insects do provide most of the protein...
Outline the physical similarities between the (Blaptica dubia) cockroach and the cricket. Explain previous studies on physical stress in the cricket and in different species of cockroaches. Briefly discuss how the metabolic rate between the two species has been found to be very similar.
Thomas, Pat. "Give Bees a Chance." Ecologist (London, England) Vol. 37, No. 5. June 2007: 30-35. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 03 Apr. 2014.
Stones become hot from the sun and remain warm during the night. The warmth will radiate down into the nest and keep the young and older ants warm. Ants are social insects. Most insects have no family life, but ants are different. Ants have families and live in communities.
Seventh, in some groups of insects, truly social behavior has evolved. Social behavior will allow a large population to survive through difficult periods via cooperation in food gathering, food storage, temperature control, and colony
Arthropods are in the kingdom Animalia which is in the subphylum Arthropoda. A species can be classified as an Arthropod if they have an exoskeleton, a coelom, and if they are mostly dioecious. An “ exoskeleton is an external skeleton made of chitin. [A] coelom is fluid filled cavity between organs and body wall” (Babin,2017). Examples of Arthropods are: spiders, ticks, millipedes, and centipedes. The objective of this experiment was to find Arthropods and test. Different habitats were established to see which will produce a greater amount of Arthropod. It was believed that the Arthropod diversity of a shaded area will be more that that of an area near a canal. The shaded area would have more arthropod diversity because more plants would be around it. Since there will be leaves and trees, plant diversity will be greater. Also, having “ plant diversity can positively affect arthropod{s}” ( Bennett and Gratton, 2013) because there will be more arthropods to utilize.