FINE = Fun, Interesting, Novel, Exciting
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| Cranefly Orchids, Tipularia discolor, are blooming in woods near you. (photo by Catherine Chastain} |
Linda says: The Great Georgia Pollinator Census is this week, August 21, 22. It is a wonderful opportunity to participate in citizen science! Details available here.
The unique faunas of islands all over the world suffer from invasive predators like rats. New Zealand has decided to get rid of these rats and other invasive predators to preserve their native birds.
This video from Knowable Magazine explains the difference between Locusts and Grasshoppers and shows locust swarms in current day Africa.
Swarms of migratory locusts regularly devastate crops
across the world, but why these swarms form has been a mystery. Now, a team of
researchers have identified a pheromone that causes solitary locusts to come
together and form flocks that number in the billions. (A pheromone is a volatile chemical, an odor, that causes a change in the behavior or physiology of another individual.) Find out how this pheromone was discovered and how this knowledge could lead to preventing locust swarms.
Emily recommends "The Pleasures of Moth-Watching."
Milkweeds are protected from many herbivores because they carry a poison, but some insects, like the Monarch butterfly, can eat milkweed leaves. How they are able to do this is an interesting evolutionary story.
Jan Coyne suggested this article from the NYT: A Honeybee's Tongue Is More Swiss Army Knife Than Ladle.
That's it for this week.
Dale
