Biology Commons^™

The Social Behavior Of Pine Sawflies In The Genus Neodiprion, John W. Terbot Ii

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Group living is found across the animal kingdom ranging from temporary mating aggregations to complex, eusocial lifestyles. A particularly common form of group living found among insects are larval or nymphal herds. This lifestyle consists of immature insects living together and results in several proposed costs and benefits. Benefits of this lifestyle include improved ability to regulate a group’s microenvironment, more efficient use of their host, and the ability to engage in collective predator defenses. Offsetting these benefits are costs resulting from living in close proximity to conspecifics which include increased competition, greater visibility to predators, and heightened disease risks. …

Solifuge (Camel Spider) Reproductive Biology: An Untapped Taxon For Exploring Sexual Selection, Alfredo V. Peretti, David E. Vrech, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

The exploration of new and diverse animal groups in the study of sexual selection is both necessary and important to help better understand broad patterns and test sexual selection hypotheses regarding the evolutionary origins and maintenance of reproductive tactics and associated traits. Solifuges are, in this matter, an exceptional group and very little explored from the sexual selection point of view. At first glance, mating is apparently quite simple and conserved within this arachnid order, but solifuge reproductive behavior is unique among arachnids and more diverse than previously thought. In particular, these voracious animals appear to exhibit high sexual conflict, …

Spiders (Araneae) Collected As Prey By The Mud-Dauber Wasps Sceliphron Caementarium And Chalybion Californicum (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) In Southeastern Nebraska1, Tyler B. Corey, Earl Agpawa, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

Predator diets represent a potential interaction between local prey availability, prey antipredator defenses, and predator foraging behavior. Female spider-specialist muddauber wasps (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) collect spiders and provision them intact, but paralyzed, to their developing larvae, providing a unique means of quantifying the diversity and abundance of prey that they capture. Mud-dauber wasps are hypothesized to be a major source of selection on antipredator defenses in web-building spiders, and the spiny and thickened abdomens of female spiny orb-weaving spiders (Araneae: Araneidae) are hypothesized to function as antiwasp defenses. We inventoried spider prey from nests of the mud-dauber wasps Sceliphron caementarium (Drury) …

There’S More Than One Way To Beat The Heat: What Anal Probes Reveal About Thermal Responses In Neotropical Beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae)., Emilie I. Dion

Dissertations and Theses

Increasing global temperatures have been linked to shifts in the distributions and preferred microhabitats of terrestrial species. This trend is predicted to impact tropical forest insects, which may already be exposed to conditions that bring them close to their thermal maxima. Tropical microhabitats are linked to vertical stratification, because the canopy is hotter, winder, and less humid than the ground. In ectothermic organisms, such as beetles, thermoregulation is dependent on morphological and behavioral traits. This study investigates woodboring cerambycid beetles, to determine how behavioral thermoregulation through microhabitat selection (vertical stratification) is correlated to morphological attributes (color lightness, size, and pubescence) …

Ogre-Faced, Net-Casting Spiders Use Auditory Cues To Detect Airborne Prey, Jay A. Stafstrom, Gil Menda, Eya I. Nitzany, Eileen A. Hebets, Ronald R. Hoy

Eileen Hebets Publications

Prey-capture behavior among spiders varies greatly from passive entrapment in webs to running down prey items on foot. Somewhere in the middle are the ogre-faced, net-casting spiders (Deinopidae: Deinopis) that actively capture prey while being suspended within a frame web. Using a net held between their front four legs, these spiders lunge downward to ensnare prey from off the ground beneath them. This “forward strike” is sensorially mediated by a massive pair of hypersensitive, night-vision eyes. Deinopids can also intercept flying insects with a “backward strike,” a ballistically rapid, overhead back-twist, that seems not to rely on visual cues. Past …

The Mayfly Newsletter, Donna Giberson

The Mayfly Newsletter

The Mayfly Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Permanent Committee of the International Conferences on Ephemeroptera.

Exploring A Novel Substrate-Borne Vibratory Signal In The Wolf Spider Schizocosa Floridana, Malcolm F. Rosenthal, Eileen Hebets, Rowan H. Mcginley, Cody Raiza, James Starrett, Lin Yan, Damian O. Elias

Eileen Hebets Publications

Animals communicate using a diversity of signals produced by a wide array of physical structures. Determining how a signal is produced provides key insights into signal evolution. Here, we examine a complex vibratory mating display produced by male Schizocosa floridana wolf spiders. This display contains three discrete substrate-borne acoustic components (known as “thumps”, “taps”, and “chirps”), each of which is anecdotally associated with the movement of a different body part (the pedipalps, legs, and abdomen respectively). In order to determine the method of production, we employ a combination of high-speed video/audio recordings and SEM imaging of possible sound-producing structures. Previous …

Testing The Hypothesized Antipredator Defence Function Of Stridulation In The Spiny Orb-Weaving Spider, Micrathena Gracilis, Tyler B. Corey, Eileen A. Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

The observable diversity of antipredator defenses across organisms demonstrates predation’s impact on trait evolution. The functions of many traits that are presumed to have an antipredator function have never been directly tested. The spiny orb-weaving spider, Micrathena gracilis, for example, stridulates when grasped. While stridulation was first hypothesized to be an antipredator defense nearly 50 years ago, no data exist to support this hypothesis. To explore the form and function of M. gracilis stridulation, we first quantified the behavioral and acoustical properties of sound production. Next, using laboratory assays, we directly tested the effect of stridulation on survival with …

Identification Of Planktothrix (Cyanobacteria) Blooms And Effects On The Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Community In The Non-Tidal Potomac River, Usa, Joshua Henesy, Jennifer L. Wolny, John E. Mullican, Detbra S. Rosales, Joseph S. Pitula, Joseph W. Love

Virginia Journal of Science

Using transverse cross-sectional transects, a survey of 31 km of the non-tidal Potomac River was conducted from White’s Ferry, Virginia to Brunswick, Maryland, USA, between June and September in 2013 through 2015 to assess a recurring benthic cyanobacteria bloom. Abundant benthic cyanobacteria blooms were detected during the 2014 and 2015 sampling seasons and the primary taxon was identified morphologically and molecularly as Planktothrix cf. isothrix. When present, P. cf. isothrix blooms were concentrated from river center to the Maryland shoreline. This pattern was correlated with significantly greater benthic chlorophyll-a and phycocyanin concentrations. In an apparent response to …

Hind Wing Eyespots Of Brassolini Butterflies (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae): Evolutionary Diversification And Functions In Anti-Predator Defense And Mating Behavior, Logan Crees

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Ventral hind wing eyespots are prominent pattern elements in Brassolini butterflies, likely functioning in predator-prey interactions and reproductive activities. Caligo and Opsiphanes differ in male mate-seeking behaviors and it has been suggested that Caligo females use the male cua1 eyespot as a mate-locating cue, but Opsiphanes females do not seem to do so. We predict Caligo males should have larger eyespots than congeneric females, but the sexes would not differ in eyespot size in Opsiphanes. Our analyses supported both these predictions. Displacing the eyespot to the center of the wing makes eyespots more conspicuous, we asked if eyespot position …

Insights From Population Genomics To Enhance And Sustain Biological Control Of Insect Pests, Arun Sethuraman, Fredric J. Janzen, David W. Weisrock, John J. Obrycki

Biology Faculty Publications

Biological control—the use of organisms (e.g., nematodes, arthropods, bacteria, fungi, viruses) for the suppression of insect pest species—is a well-established, ecologically sound and economically profitable tactic for crop protection. This approach has served as a sustainable solution for many insect pest problems for over a century in North America. However, all pest management tactics have associated risks. Specifically, the ecological non-target effects of biological control have been examined in numerous systems. In contrast, the need to understand the short- and long-term evolutionary consequences of human-mediated manipulation of biological control organisms for importation, augmentation and conservation biological control has only recently …

The Mayfly Newsletter, Donna Giberson

The Mayfly Newsletter

The Mayfly Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Permanent Committee of the International Conferences on Ephemeroptera.

A Study On Ecological Distribution Of And Selected Gene Expression In Amblyomma Americanum: An Insight Into The Alpha-Galactose Allergy Caused By Tick Bites, Leah Cuthill

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Ticks transmit a wide variety of pathogens including viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and helminthes to vertebrates. Their life cycle depends on blood meals from various hosts as well as on environmental conditions such as the temperature and habitat type. A newly recognized allergic disease has been identified and is characterized by a delayed reaction following the consumption of some mammalian meats. The allergy often results in life threatening reactions such as anaphylaxis, hives, and breathing problems 3-6 hours after the consumption of mammalian meat. Not everyone develops the allergy when they are bitten by a lone star tick, and the cause …

From Aristotle To Wunderkammer: The Development Of Entomology And Insect Collections, Erica Fischer

Honors Projects

This project aimed to analyze the development of insect classification and the shift from the realm of the amateur naturalist to professional science. It looked to address questions regarding entomology as a developing science and how effectively it reflects larger changes in the field of biology and the development of natural history collections. This work was for a synthesis of time periods from the beginnings of classification in the ancient world through the 20th century, a more general timeline than is typically approached. The research needed for the completion of this paper was based on secondary source research in the …

The Trichoplusia Ni Gut Microbiome And Its Derivation From The Phyllosphere Of Its Food Plants, Josemaria Garcia, Marisol Escanuela, Swapna Bhat, Evan Lampert

Georgia Journal of Science

Insects are the most abundant and diverse animals on planet Earth and rely on their diverse microbiomes to be so. The insect gut microbiome is vital in the growth and development of many insect species. Trichoplusia ni, the cabbage looper, is a generalist herbivore, but little is known about its microbiome. In this study, a metagenomic analysis of fecal samples was used to determine the effect of diet on the microbiome of T. ni larvae. Larvae were reared on six plant species, the microbiome was sampled from fecal material, and the phyllosphere was sampled from leaves the larvae ate. …

Historical And Contemporary Variables Affecting The Range And Distribution Of Aedes Aegypti, The Yellow Fever Mosquito, In The United States, Nicole Mackey

Master's Theses

Aedes aegypti, the primary mosquito vector of the yellow fever virus, threatens global health by passing on this virus, as well as chikungunya, dengue, and Zika viruses. Through its natural tendency to live in highly urban areas and bite human hosts; understanding the factors that affect the historical and current range of the pest is invaluable (Gubler, 1998). Although these viruses are not normally found in the United States, lack of vaccinations and wide-spread presence of the mosquito could lead to these diseases being reintroduced with potentially devastating effects (Monath, 2001). To determine a partial historical range of A. aegypti …

Dragonflies And Damselflies (Insecta: Odonata) As Indicators For Riparian Condition In Ozark Spring Streams, Cameron Riley Cheri

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) are often ineffectively sampled during standard stream bioassessments in North America. Subsequently, odonates are not frequently regarded as informative taxa for stream assessment, particularly when monitoring the ecological impacts of organic pollution. I hypothesized that stream-dwelling odonates should be more useful bioindicators for the assessment of riparian conditions surrounding streams because vegetation associated with streams is used for oviposition, roosting and to establish breeding territories. I selected twelve Ozark spring streams that satisfied a broad array of riparian conditions for study. I sampled each stream’s odonate and total benthic community along with both instream and …

There’S A New Species Of Thief Ant Hiding In The Pine Barrens Of Rhode Island, Justin Andries

Biology Student Scholarship

Major: Biology and Sociology
Faculty Mentor: Dr. James Waters, Biology

Ants are often missed underfoot and overlooked, but they are among the most ecologically dominant groups of animals on the planet. There are more than 200 species of ants which have been scientifically recorded in New England but samples from Rhode Island represent less than a percent of the overall survey of our regional taxa. To discover the species that are found in Rhode Island, we are engaged in a multi-year and multi-location effort to systematically trap and accurately identify the ant species found in diverse rural and urban habitats …

Delineation Of Undescribed, Morphologically Cryptic Cave Beetles Of The Pseudanophthalmus Pubescens Species-Group (Coleoptera: Carabidae: Trechinae), Jedidiah John Nixon

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The genus Pseudanophthalmus Jeannel is a widespread and extremely diverse taxon of troglobiont beetle endemic to the karst of eastern North America, with its distribution centered in Tennessee and Kentucky. Despite lying near the heart of this region, the pubescens species-group was thought to contain many undescribed species. In this study, the validities of several of the late Dr. Thomas Barr’s unpublished putative new species in the pubescens-group were tested both morphologically and molecularly. Body measurements (length and width for head, thorax, and abdomen), as well as male genital morphology were compared to see if they reflected theorized species limits.. …

Distortion Of The Local Magnetic Field Appears To Neither Disrupt Nocturnal Navigation Nor Cue Shelter Recognition In The Amblypygid Paraphrynus Laevifrons, Daniel D. Wiegmann, Patrick Casto, Eileen Hebets, Verner P. Bingman

Eileen Hebets Publications

Many arthropods are known to be sensitive to the geomagnetic field and exploit the field to solve spatial problems. The polarity of the geomagnetic field is used, for instance, as an orientation cue by leafcutter ants as they travel on engineered trails in a rainforest and by Drosophila larvae as they move short distances in search of food. A ubiquitous orientation cue like the geomagnetic field may be especially useful in complex, cluttered environments like rainforests, where the reliability of celestial cues used to navigate in more open environments may be poor. The neotropical amblypygid Paraphrynus laevifrons is a nocturnal …

Optimization Of Methods For Cross-Species Infection Of Cell Cultures With Wolbachia, Sarah J. Lane

Honors Thesis

The common intracellular endosymbiont genus of bacteria called Wolbachia is of interest due to the promise it shows for playing a role in disease control. Wolbachia have a number of widely variable effects on its many species of host insects. In combination with these roles, Wolbachia largely affects reproduction and development of its host species. It can lead to feminization and cytoplasmic incompatibility (Werren et al. 2008). Furthermore, this species is vertically transmitted which means that it passes from mother to offspring (Caragata et al., 2016). In combination with its effects on reproduction, which can allow Wolbachia to propagate through …

Olfactory Behavioral Responses Of Mosquito Vectors To Select Attractants And Floral Scents As Related To Circadian Rhythms And Photoperiod Regimes, Bernadette A. Ferraro

Biomedical Sciences Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation discusses mosquito behavioral activities involving circadian rhythms defined as insect sensitivity to select of chemical volatiles that vary throughout the 24-hour day. Circannual rhythms occur over seasons varying in photoperiod, defined as the seasonal cycle of light and darkness. These cycles can be endogenously controlled by circadian clocks. The impetus for this research was initiated when reading about the neglected temporal dimension in the context of insect chemical ecology, including insect olfaction. It was proposed that sensitivity to odors does not change in general, but specific sensitivities could vary according to time of day. Chemical scents emitted by …

Insect Diversity And Association With Plants: A Case Study In Rural Areas Of Dhirkot, Azad Kashmir Pakistan, Abu Ul Hassan Faiz, Mehboob Ul Hassan, Mikhail F. Bagaturov, Majid Mahmood, Ghazal Tariq, Lariab Zahra Faiz

Journal of Bioresource Management

Insects play a vital role for proper functioning of forest ecosystem, including positive roles as pollinators, seed dispersers, genetic linkers and detrimental effects by feeding on and/or killing trees. The present study was conducted to find insect association with plants in rural areas of Dhirkot. The study was conducted from March, 2019 to September, 2019. The sampling was carried out by line transect method. Thirty transects were taken for sampling insects. Sixty-five species of insects in association with 150 plants were recorded.

Juvenile Hormone Mediation In An Insect With Parental Care Behavior, Jessica M. Rodino

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Juvenile hormone (JH) is a well-known catalyst for hormonal processes in insects. However, the role of JH in insects that exhibit parental behavior is unknown. We investigated the influence of JH on parental behavior in the burying beetle (Nicrophorus orbicollis). In the first experiment, we manipulated the JH production of females via the administration of varying doses of fluvastatin sodium immediately following oviposition. We found that with increasing fluvastatin dosage, the total mass of offspring and number of offspring decreased while at the same time less of the food source was consumed. These results suggest a link between …

Honeybees Fail To Discriminate Floral Scents In A Complex Learning Task After Consuming A Neonicotinoid Pesticide, Julie A. Mustard, Annie Gott, Jennifer Scott, Nancy L. Chavarria, Geraldine A. Wright

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Neonicotinoids are pesticides used to protect crops but with known secondary influences at sublethal doses on bees. Honeybees use their sense of smell to identify the queen and nestmates, to signal danger and to distinguish flowers during foraging. Few behavioural studies to date have examined how neonicotinoid pesticides affect the ability of bees to distinguish odours. Here, we use a differential learning task to test how neonicotinoid exposure affects learning, memory, and olfactory perception in foraging-age honeybees. Bees fed with thiamethoxam could not perform differential learning and could not distinguish odours during short and long-term memory tests. Our data indicate …

Spatiotemporal Variability In Allee Effects Of Invading Gypsy Moth Populations, Jonathan A. Walter, Kristine L. Grayson, Laura M. Blackburn, Patrick C. Tobin, Derek M. Johnson

Biology Faculty Publications

The Allee threshold, the critical population density separating growth from decline in populations experiencing strong Allee effects, can vary over space and time but few empirical studies have examined this variation. A lack of geographically extensive, long-term studies on low density population dynamics makes studying variability in Allee effects difficult. We used North American gypsy moth population data from 1996-2016 to quantify Allee thresholds in 11 regions of the invasion front. Allee thresholds spanned a continuum from being undetectable due to strong population growth at all densities, to being unmeasurable because populations declined across all densities. The lag-1 temporal autocorrelation …

Demonstrating Mate Choice Copying In Spiders Requires Further Research, R. Tucker Gilman, Kasey Fowler-Finn, Eileen A. Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

Mate choice copying—when individuals learn to prefer mates or mate types that have been chosen by others—can influence trait evo-lution and speciation (Varela et al. 2018; Dion et al. 2019). Most examples of mate choice copying are from fish, birds, and mammals including humans (Varela et al. 2018). However, 2 invertebrate examples—fruit flies and wolf spiders—have been used to argue that the phenomenon may be phylogenetically widespread, and perhaps the rule rather than the exception in nature (Varela et al. 2018). Here, we revisit the evidence for mate choice copying in wolf spiders (Fowler-Finn et al. 2015) in light of …

Developmental Effects Of Terpenes On Vanessa Cardui At Varying Temperatures, Mari Irving

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Secondary metabolites are organic compounds produced by plants that are not essential in growth, development, or reproduction. While they are not strictly necessary to complete the plant life cycle, secondary metabolites play key roles in functions like defense against herbivory and the moderation of symbiotic relationships. Terpenes are a major class of secondary metabolites present in all plants, and this class is hypothesized to have diversified in response to specific plant-herbivore interactions. These complex interactions are further complicated by changes in abiotic conditions experienced seasonally. Herbivory is a major biotic interaction that plays out across broad temporal and spatial scales …

Diet Of Spalangia Cameroni (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), A Parasitoid Of Filth Flies, Elizabeth Taylor

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Parasitoid wasps are often part of the rich invertebrate communities in decaying organic matter where their hosts are found. However, little is known about what adults of these parasitoids eat. Most parasitoid wasps parasitize herbaceous insects, so nectar from flowers often is readily available. The present study examined feeding by adult Spalangia cameroni Perkins (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), a species that burrows through manure, where it finds and parasitizes pupae of filth flies. Feeding on host fluids occurs in many parasitoid wasps, including S. cameroni. In the laboratory, these wasps also readily feed on honey or a sucrose solution, which increases their …

The Influence Of Land Use On The Pollen Diet Of Honey Bee (Apis Mellifera) Colonies In Ellis County, Kansas, Ryan Engel

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Pollinators are integral to plant ecology as well as to worldwide food availability and security. Understanding how human-driven land use change impacts the nutrition of managed honey bees is important in pollinator conservation efforts and can contribute towards combating recent pollinator declines. The objective of this study was to determine sources of forage for honey bees across different land use types in Ellis County, Kansas, through pollen analysis and taxonomic identification. Replicate study colonies were placed in three separate land use types: Urban, Cropland, or Native/Semi-native prairie. Pollen was sampled every 7 to 14 days throughout a growing season (April …