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University of Toronto Study Demonstrates Impact of Adversity on Early Life Development

By Guest PostOctober 28, 2012Sciencebehavioural geneticist, biology, british columbia, childhood adversity, chris reaume, cifar, dna sequence, drosophila melanogaster, ebbd, Environment, enzyme, evidence, evolutionary biology, food, for, foraging gene, fruit fly, gene, gene robinson, human development, illinois, interaction, james burns, kindergartener, larvae, marla sokolowski, molecular genetics, Nature, neuroscience, pkg, pnas, pre programmed, protein, reproductive fitness, rna, rovers, sitters, tom boyce, toronto, transgenic manipulation, university

Study part of growing body of knowledge surrounding gene-environment interplay

TORONTO, ON – It is time to put the nature versus nurture debate to rest and embrace growing evidence that it is the interaction between biology and environment in early life that influences human development, according to a series of studies recently published in a special edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“Biologists used to think that our differences are pre-programmed in our genes, while psychologists argued that babies are born with a blank slate and their experience writes on it to shape them into the adults they become. Instead, the important question to be asking is, ‘How is our experience in early life getting embedded in our biology?’” says University of Toronto behavioural geneticist Marla Sokolowski. She is co-editor of the PNAS special edition titled “Biological Embedding of Early Social Adversity: From Fruit Flies to Kindergarteners” along with professors Tom Boyce (University of British Columbia) and Gene Robinson (University of Illinois). (more…)

Why are There so Many Species of Beetles and So few Crocodiles?

By Guest PostAugust 29, 2012Nature, Scienceadaptive zone, alligators, beetles, biodiversity, bird, cichlid fish, crocodile, daniel rabosky, diversity tree, ecological limits, eukaryote, evolutionary biology, evolutionary detectives, factor, fish, fungi, graham slater, life, lizard, mammal, michael alfaro, multi cellular, new zealand, planet, puzzle, reptile, snake, species, species diversity, species richness, theoretical model, tree of life, tuatara

Answer may be ‘adaptive zones’ that limit species number, life scientists report

There are more than 400,000 species of beetles and only two species of the tuatara, a reptile cousin of snakes and lizards that lives in New Zealand. Crocodiles and alligators, while nearly 250 million years old, have diversified into only 23 species. Why evolution has produced “winners” — including mammals and many species of birds and fish — and “losers” is a major question in evolutionary biology.

Scientists have often posited that because some animal and plant lineages are much older than others, they have had more time to produce new species (the dearth of crocodiles notwithstanding). This idea — that time is an important predictor of species number — underlies many theoretical models used by biologists. However, it fails to explain species numbers across all multi-cellular life on the planet, a team of life scientists reports Aug. 28 in the online journal PLoS Biology, a publication of the Public Library of Science. (more…)

Science Fair Winner Publishes New Study on Butterfly Foraging Behavior

By Guest PostMay 4, 2012Natureadrian duehl, agricultural fields, alexandra, alexandra sourakov, andrei sourakov, blue morpho, blue morpho butterfly, butterflies, butterfly, butterfly rainforest, clipper butterfly, ecology, electroantennography, evolutionary biology, fermented bananas, foraging behavior, gas chromatography, honey, insects, labial palpi, lepidopterist, mango, mass spectrometry, moths, pollinators, teenage daughter, university of florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — University of Florida lepidopterist Andrei Sourakov has spent his life’s work studying moths and butterflies. But it was his teenage daughter, Alexandra, who led research on how color impacts butterflies’ feeding patterns.

The research shows different species exhibit unique foraging behaviors, and the study may be used to build more effective, species-specific synthetic lures for understanding pollinators, insects on which humans depend for sustaining many crops.

In a study appearing online in April in the journal Psyche, researchers used multi-colored landing pads and baits in the Florida Museum of Natural History’s McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity on the UF campus to determine that some butterflies use both sight and smell to locate food, while others rely primarily on smell. (more…)

Hiding in Plain Sight, A New Frog Species With A ‘Weird’ Croak is Identified in New York City

By Guest PostMarch 15, 2012Nature, Scienceamphibians, brad shaffer, bronx, cathy newman, cryptic species, dna data, ecology, Environment, evolutionary biology, jeremy feinberg, joanna burger, leopard frog, leslie rissler, long snore, manhattan, marshes, mitochondrial dna, new frog species, new jersey, new york, new york city, odd frogs, ponds, rana, rapid chuckle, Rutgers University, skyscrapers, species, staten island, statue of liberty, uc davis, ucla, university of alabama, unusual frogs, weird rana, wilds, yankee stadium

In the wilds of New York City — or as wild as you can get so close to skyscrapers — scientists have found a new leopard frog species that for years biologists mistook for a more widespread variety of leopard frog.

While biologists regularly discover new species in remote rain forests, finding this one in the ponds and marshes of Staten Island, mainland New York and New Jersey — sometimes within view of the Statue of Liberty — is a big surprise, said the scientists from UCLA, Rutgers University, UC Davis, and The University of Alabama who worked together to make the unexpected discovery. (more…)

Biologically Best

By Guest PostJanuary 28, 2012Educationalex walter, article, bacterial protein, baylor university, becky maki, biologist, blood, cairo, cincinnati, egypt, evolutionary biology, florida, foundations of biology, fungal lineage, gretchen floan, iraqi war veteran, jonathan christenson, lisa hirsch, mark decker, mcgill university, mysterious, natural selection, nature of life, oklahoma, practicing biologists, robin wright, student, toxic metal, university of minnesota

*The U’s active learning biology courses garner attention*

What if you could remove lead from a person’s blood with a bacterial protein that snags the toxic metal?

Or treat spinal cord injury by shutting off a gene that prevents nerve regrowth?

Ideas like these used to be the exclusive province of practicing biologists. But they are among 14 ideas conceived and presented recently by students in the University of Minnesota’s introductory biology course. (more…)

Shade-coffee farms support native bees that help maintain genetic diversity in remnant tropical forests

By Guest PostJuly 27, 20101 commentEnvironment, Natureafricanized honeybees, Berkeley, biodiverse tropical regions, biodiversity, biologist, buzz, canopy of trees, chiapas, christopher dick, ecology, evolutionary biology, m. affinis, Mexico, miconia affinis, migratory birds, native bees, native trees, pollination, role, saquiyac tree, shade-coffee farms, shade-grown coffee, shalene jha, tropical forest, university of california, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Shade-grown coffee farms support native bees that help maintain the health of some of the world’s most biodiverse tropical regions, according to a study by a University of Michigan biologist and a colleague at the University of California, Berkeley.

(more…)

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