Stupid scientists. GOD changed the crickets.
On 9/23/06, Larry Lyons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > http://www.newsroom.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=1418 > > Crickets on Hawaiian Island Develop Silent Wings in Response to Parasitic > Attack > > Male crickets use ingenious means to mate with females after loss of > sexual signal, UCR biologists find > > (September 22, 2006) > > RIVERSIDE, Calif. ââ¬" In only a few generations, the male cricket on > Kauai, one of the Hawaiian Islands, underwent a mutation ââ¬" a sudden > heritable change in its genetic material ââ¬" that rendered it incapable of > using song, its sexual signal, to attract female crickets, according to a > new study by UC Riverside evolutionary biologists. > > In addition, the researchers found that although the new male cricketsââ¬â¢ > wings lack the file and scraper apparatus required for producing sound, the > males are able to mate successfully with females, thus ensuring evolutionary > success. The males accomplish this by simply altering their behavior in an > ingenious manner, suggesting that behavior can help what may seem like a > harmful mutation spread. > > The research team, led by Marlene Zuk, a professor of biology, found that > greater than 90 percent of male field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) on > Kauai shifted in less than 20 generations from having normal wings to > mutated ââ¬Åflat wingsââ¬Â that inhibit the crickets from calling. The > mutation occurred, the researchers conclude, to protect male crickets from a > deadly parasitic fly (Ormia ochracea) that uses the cricket song to locate > crickets as hosts. > > Upon finding a male cricket, the fly deposits larvae onto it; these then > burrow into the cricket, develop inside, and subsequently kill the cricket > when they emerge from its body. Of three Hawaiian Islands (Oahu, the Big > Island of Hawaii, and Kauai) where the cricket and fly co-occur, Kauai, > where the rapid spread of this wing mutation in male crickets was observed, > has the highest prevalence of the parasitic fly. > > Study results appear in Biology Letters, a scientific journal of the Royal > Society in the United Kingdom, publishing short papers from across the > biological sciences. > > ââ¬ÅWith each visit we made to Kauai since 1991, we observed fewer > crickets,ââ¬Â said Zuk, the first author of the paper. ââ¬ÅIn 2001, we > heard > only one calling male. But then in 2003, although we heard none of the male > crickets calling, we found they were not only in high abundance but nearly > all of them also had female-like wings, lacking the fine structures needed > to produce song.ââ¬Â > > The researchers also found that male cricket populations in Oahu and the > Big Island, as well as descendants from eggs collected on Kauai before 2003, > continued to show normal wings. Only on Kauai were the mutated wings seen in > male crickets in 2003. > > ââ¬ÅLoss of calling clearly seems to be protecting the male crickets from > the deadly fly,ââ¬Â Zuk said. ââ¬ÅBut this protection has a heavy > price: the > loss of its sexual signal. This is obviously a huge loss for the cricket, > akin to, say, finding that all peacocks in a forest have lost their tails. > One might ask how then do female crickets locate silent flatwing males?ââ¬Â > > Zuk and colleagues propose that on Kauai, the flatwings ââ¬" a term they > use to identify male crickets with mutated wings ââ¬" behave as > ââ¬Ësatellitesââ¬â¢ to the few remaining male crickets that can call. By > congregating near the callers, the flatwings enable females to find and mate > with them. > > To test their hypothesis, the biologists performed a field experiment that > demonstrated that the flatwings are using the callers as female attractors > (for details, see below). > > ââ¬ÅWhile we were surprised by the extraordinary speed at which the > mutation spread, what is more interesting is that, ordinarily, you would > expect such a change in wing morphology to quickly disappear, because males > couldn't attract mates,ââ¬Â Zuk said. ââ¬ÅInstead, the behavior of the > flatwings allows them to capitalize on the few callers that remain, and thus > escape the fly and still reproduce. This is seeing evolution at work.ââ¬Â > > Zuk was joined in the study by UCRââ¬â¢s John T. Rotenberry, also a > professor of biology, and Robin M. Tinghitella, a graduate student in the > Department of Biology. The research was supported by grants from the > National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation and the UCR > Academic Senate. > > Field experiment details: > > The researchers performed experiments in which 2-meter radius circles were > delineated within the habitat of crickets on Oahu, the Big Island of Hawaii, > and Kauai. After removing and noting the sex, the wing type and the number > of all crickets inside the circle, the researchers played an island-specific > calling song from a speaker placed in the circleââ¬â¢s center. After 20 > minutes, the researchers noted the position, sex and wing structure of all > crickets inside the circle, and measured the distance from all crickets to > the speaker. > > Comparing their observations made on the three islands, the researchers > found that on Kauai, the flatwings arrived much more quickly, and settled > closer to the speaker, than normal-winged males on the other two islands, > supporting the notion that the new morphs are using the callers as female > attractors. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:215940 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
