Red Flour Beetles Lab

To investigate optimal foraging behaviour, two treatments were carried out on a sample of Drosophilia melanogaster (fruit flies), who were previously starved for 24 hours. In treatment 1, 5 mL of 400 mM sucrose solution (SS) was dyed with 4 droplets of red food colouring. 5 mL of 40 mM SS was dyed with 3 droplets of blue food coloring. Using a Pasteur pipette, 16 drops were placed, four-by-four, on a Petri dish, alternating the red 400 nM and blue 40 mM solutions. The drops were spaced 5 mm apart so the flies could move around them. Approximately 10-15 flies were added from a vial, into the Petri dish. The number of live flies were counted, and left for one hour to forage. After one hour, the dish was placed in a freezer for 10 minutes to kill the flies. The flies were examined under a microscope to determine abdominal colour (red, blue, purple, or colourless). Treatment 2 followed the same procedure. However, 5 mL of 400 mM SS was dyed with 3 droplets of blue food colouring, and 5 mL of 40 mM SS was dyed with 5 droplets of red food colouring. The two treatments controlled for fly colour preference. A Chi-squared

Economic threshold depends greatly on the height of the plant. On average “around 20 or more larvae per sweep” (UC IPM, 2011).

It provides the necessary knowledge of whether or not honey bee larvae can survive and develop in a laboratory setting. Once possible treatment options begin to emerge, the uninfected larvae could be exposed to these alternatives. These larvae can be observed for any anomalies throughout the developmental period to determine the effects of these potential treatments. Unfortunately, during the experimental process none of the larvae made it to the adult stage in the control plate. This was partly due to the development of mold during the larval stage. With the elevated humidity levels and the presence of condensation within the incubator, it provided optimal conditions for mold growth. The mold caused undesirable larval death for almost half of the larvae; therefore, it may have skewed the

Disguised animals generally have wide-ranging structural modifications appearing like a leaf, a stone, bark, or a twig. The greatest perfection and skill is the disappearance of certain insects and amphibians within piles of living or dead leaves or a bush (“Dazzled”). . One such expert is the rove beetle that contorts its body inward to reveal only the back. The beetle’s back is unique in that it resembles a dab of rotted leaf or a bird dropping. This allows the beetle to not only hide, but to become the predator. This beetle is known to roost on dead carcasses, and secret an irresistible chemical that lures copious amounts of fruit flies in for a crushing ambush (“Masters”). Even plants can join in a charade of their own. Certain passion flowers have a transformed portrayal that can simulate butterfly eggs as shown in figure 1. This mimic is a con that deviates any residency from future caterpillars that would devour their leaves. Yes. Even plants have the ability to imitate their environment in order to survive

You might think of bugs as pests, if you bother to think about them at all. Alper Bozkurt’s research will quickly set you straight: to him, they’re engineering wonders, deft flying and crawling machines, reproducing in nature more reliably than widgets in a factory. Bozkurt’s interest isn’t just academic. By the time he’s through, in ten years or so, an army of cockroaches and moths just might save your life.

Experiment: The butterflies will be left from each group separately behind identical predators (i.e. yellowhammers and great tits on both groups). Afterward, the number of butterflies left in each group will be counted, which determines how efficient the butterflies of each group are in defending

The major idea of this article was detected if the feeding beetles effect on increasing the pinto bean plants (defenses system) against the Southern bean mosaic virus(SBMV), and detected if ribonuclease (RNase), a secret weapon using via beetles

Did you know that chocolate contains up to 400 parts of insects every 50 grams? Entomophagy, the study of eating bugs, can have its pros and cons but I believe that the pros over role the cons. People may think that eating bugs are disgusting and dangerous but it just depends on what type of bug you are eating and if the bugs were raised properly so you won't get sick when you eat it. Some benefits of eating bugs are that they are healthy, if raised correctly, they don´t need a lot of recourses to survive when being raised, and you already eating bugs in everyday food. Just think about it.

Most beetles eat plants parts,either leaves or seeds or fruit or wood.Not all beetles only eat plants some of them animals,however only beetles eat a specific plant and nothing else.Cereal leaf beetles are good of this,They only consume cereal crops.Some beetles on the other hand serves as a decomposer.coprophagous beetles prey on dead plants.Different type of beetles eat different type of things.Carnivorous beetles feed on snails,earthworms and other smaller living things around them.Some beetles eat fungus and there are a bunch of species that eat dung.sometimes the larvae eat different foods than the adults do.

Coccinellidae lady beetles are well-known members of the order Coleoptera. Very few Coccinellids beetles like Epilachninae are phytophagous (Anbalagan et al., 2013). About 90% of 6000 Coccinellidae species are characterized worldwide (Brown, 1969; Iperti, 1999; Prinsloo & Stals, 2006; Brown, 2011). Moreover, Coccinellids have received consideration from agriculturalists because of their potential as biological control agents (Hayat & Khan, 2013; Colunga-Garcia, 1997; Brown, 1969). In spite of their polyphagy, aphidophagous Coccinellids are abundant predators of aphid populations and can survive on some alternative food sources like flowers, pollen, nectar, and honeydew. The adults of C. Septempunctata prefers aphids feeding on wheat. Both the

Parasitic wasps are some of the most beneficial insects in agriculture and infect over 200 different species of pests. It is believed that most of these organisms are ancestors of sawflies which feed on dead wood which is digested by symbiotic fungi. Although the diversity of parasitic wasps is overwhelming all species exert a common connection, they all prey upon other arthropods more specifically insects. The prey of these wasps is generally in larval form because they do not have a hard-impenetrable exoskeleton. Unlike other wasps, most parasitic wasps do not have a stinger and appear to have no threat against humans. On the other hand, the adult diet of the parasitic wasp consists of nectar and pollen and prefer mature single

Animal behavior can be defined as how animals respond to different environmental inducements (Schussler 2014). Furthermore, by studying how animal’s react to these stimulus we can determine what shapes an animals behavior. In addition, the way an insect travels can define how prosperous or how non prosperous an insect will be in finding vital resources such as finding nutrients, reproducing, and their habitat location (Romero et. al. 2010). One interesting question is how insects are affected by different food and environmental ques. Based upon earlier research conducted by Stephen P. Yanoviak, insects prefer salt when compared against to sugar because they are less exposed to salt. (Sanders 2008). For that reason, in this study we are investigating how the flour beetle (Tribolium spp.) is affected by a variety of food resources. From earlier research conducted on ground beetles, the researchers found that beetles feast on a variety of food sources (Lovei & Sunderland, 1996). The reason we are studying this is because we believe that the type food source plays a dynamic role in flour beetle behavior. One question that lead us to perform this study is that food is a vital resource that beetles must have to survive. We wanted to see what food sources is most influential and why.

Mimicry in the insect world involves models and mimics. The mimic bears a convincing resemblance to its model – usually an insect avoided by its prey - and uses this trick to its advantage, in order to survive. Genetically modified food employs a similar technique as it mimics a naturally evolved organism; but that is where the similarity ends. Unfortunately, in the world of GM food, it is almost impossible to differentiate between the original and the mimic.

Vigna unguiculata is a common subtropic secondary crop utilized for sustenance amongst populations. Also referred to as the cowpea, this commodity holds great value in tropical Third World nations such as Nigeria since it serves as an inexpensive resource which provides protein and energy (Dauost, 1986). Therefore, it is essential that this crop remains prevalent in today’s agricultural world. Unfortunately, Vigna unguiculata faces a large amount of predation from multiple species, one of which is the bean beetle Callosobruchus maculatus. This pest, along with others, leads to crop failure and a complete loss in the resource for potentially an entire agricultural season. Callosobruchus maculatus, a plant-feeding insect, compromises the integrity of Vigna unguiculata populations by using either this plant or other dry-bean species as a location to reproduce and lay eggs (Tuda, 2006).

Grasshoppers are mostly eaten in the Oriental countries. The “guasanos de Maguey” larvae of the giant skippers collected from the fleshy leaves of maguey plants eaten in Mexico (Borror and others 1992). In the United States few people eat insects, knowingly. Those eaten are usually sold at gourmet shops. In Western society insect as a food source is ostracized however some including, honey, which is regurgitated by bees, and relatives of insects, such as lobsters, grayfish, shrimp, and crabs, are considered delicacies. Our society has considered eating bugs, “strictly for the birds.” In fact, presence of bugs in our food source is considered contamination and unsanitary. Although some bugs are highly lethal, not all should be cause for alarm when found on your plate- consider them as a source of extra protein and essential lipids (Gorham 1976).