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Cambrian Fossil Pushes Back Evolution of Complex Brains

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2012Nature, Scienceancient animal, arachnids, arizona, arthropods, brain anatomy, branchiopod brain, branchiopods, brine shrimp, cambrian fossil, cambrian period, China, common ancestor, complex brain, course, crustaceans, dna sequence, evolution, evolutionary biologist, fuxianhuia protensa, gregory edgecombe, hypothesis, insects, malacostracans, microscope, missing link, modern brain, modern malacostracan, molecular data, morphology, mudstone, multicellular animals, Nature, neural anatomy, neurobiologist, neurocladistics, neuropils, nicholas strausfeld, optic lobes, origin, sensory organ, species, taxonomic group, transformative discovery, university, xianguang hou, xiaoya ma, yunnan province, yunnan university. kunming

Complex brains evolved much earlier than previously thought, as evidenced by a 520-million-year-old fossilized arthropod with remarkably well-preserved brain structures.

The remarkably well-preserved fossil of an extinct arthropod shows that anatomically complex brains evolved earlier than previously thought and have changed little over the course of evolution. According to University of Arizona neurobiologist Nicholas Strausfeld, who co-authored the study describing the specimen, the fossil is the earliest known to show a brain.

The discovery will be published in the Oct. 11 issue of the journal Nature. (more…)

Study Proves that One Extinction Leads to Another

By Guest PostAugust 15, 2012Natureafrican plains, aphids, carnivore, ecosystem, extinction, food web, frank van veen, insects, parasitic wasps, predatory fish, predatory species, ripple effect, university of exeter

When a carnivore becomes extinct, other predatory species could soon follow, according to new research.

Scientists have previously put forward this theory, but a University of Exeter team has now carried out the first experiment to prove it.

Published today (15 August 2012) in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, the study shows how the demise of one carnivore species can indirectly cause another to become extinct. The University of Exeter team believes any extinction can create a ripple effect across a food web, with far-reaching consequences for many other animals. (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…)

Building A Better Trap

By Guest PostFebruary 19, 2012Nature, Scienceandes mountains, Colombia, electromagnetic spectrum, entomologist, equipment, evolutionary effect, fieldwork, fieldwork in peru, fluorescent, fluorescent bulb, french guiana, insects, leds, lee w cohnstaedt, leishmaniasis, leonard e munstermann, light emitting diodes, light technology, lorenza beati, michael greenwood, nanometer, peru, remote site, sand fly, south america, time, trap, vector borne diseases, wavelength of light

Fieldwork in Peru’s Andes Mountains is demanding, especially when it involves hauling heavy equipment to remote sites that are accessible only by traversing the region’s rugged terrain.

But the task of collecting insects for the study of vector-borne diseases and other purposes has become a little less onerous since a Yale School of Public Health researcher and colleagues designed a lighter — and perhaps better — trap. (more…)

Yale Research Reveals Ancient Moth’s True Colors

By Guest PostNovember 15, 2011Nature, Scienceanatomical details, birds, camouflage, chemical pigments, colors of ancient beetles, derek e g briggs, electron microscopy, feathered dinosaur, fishes, fossils from germany, Frankfurt, function and evolution, heeso noh, hui cao, insects, long extinct creatures, maria e mcnamara, messel oil shale pit, national science foundation, organisms, original colors of an ancient moth, peabody museum of natural history, structural colors, university college dublin, yale paleontologist, yale university

A research team led by Yale University scientists has for the first time determined the original colors of an ancient moth, based on nearly 50 million-year-old fossils from Germany.

The discovery could help scientists learn the colors of a wide variety of long-extinct creatures, including birds, fishes, and other insects, and shed light on color’s function and evolution. (more…)

Chagas Disease May Be A Threat in South Texas, Says Researcher

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2011Health, Sciencebugs, chagas disease, chagas disease in texas, chagas infections, disease, heart and digestive disorders, insects, kissing bugs, latin america, Mexico, multi layered attack, philip williamson, protozoa, sahotra sarkar, south america, south texas, texas, triatomine bugs, tropical parasitic disease, trypanosoma cruzi, university of texas at austin

AUSTIN, Texas — Chagas disease, a tropical parasitic disease that can lead to life-threatening heart and digestive disorders, may be more widespread in Texas than previously thought, according to research from The University of Texas at Austin.

“We’ve been studying this for four years now, and this year the number of disease-causing insects is quite amazing,” says Sahotra Sarkar, professor of integrative biology and philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin and lead author of a paper on the disease published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. (more…)

Pollution Triggers Genetic Resistance Mechanism in a Coastal Fish

By Guest PostFebruary 24, 20112 commentsEnvironmentacushnet river estuary, ahr2, amino acids, antibiotics, atlantic tomcod, bacteria, diana franks, Environment, evolutionary change, fish, fish populations, general electric facilities, genetic receptor, genetic resistance, hudson environment, hudson river, insecticides, insects, isaac wirgin, mark hahn, natural selection, new york, pahs, PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, protein, receptor gene, stress factors, superfund basic research, tomcod, toxicity, vertebrate population

For 30 years, two General Electric facilities released about 1.3 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into New York’s Hudson River, devastating and contaminating fish populations. Some 50 years later, one type of fish—the Atlantic tomcod—has not only survived but appears to be thriving in the hostile Hudson environment.

Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have joined colleagues from New York University (NYU) and NOAA to investigate this phenomenon and report that the tomcod living in the Hudson River have undergone a rapid evolutionary change in developing a genetic resistance to PCBs. (more…)

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