Automated computed tomography based parasitoid detection in mason bee rearings

In recent years, insect husbandry has seen an increased interest in order to supply in the production of raw materials, food, or as biological/environmental control. Unfortunately, large insect rearings are susceptible to pathogens, pests and parasitoids which can spread rapidly due to the confined nature of a rearing system. Thus, it is of interest to monitor the spread of such manifestations and the overall population size quickly and efficiently. Medical imaging techniques could be used for this purpose, as large volumes can be scanned non-invasively. Due to its 3D acquisition nature, computed tomography seems to be the most suitable for this task. This study presents an automated, computed tomography-based, counting method for bee rearings that performs comparable to identifying all Osmia cornuta cocoons manually. The proposed methodology achieves this in an average of 10 seconds per sample, compared to 90 minutes per sample for the manual count over a total of 12 samples collected around lake Zurich in 2020. Such an automated bee population evaluation tool is efficient and valuable in combating environmental influences on bee, and potentially other insect, rearings

The evolution and nomenclature of GnRH-type and corazonin-type neuropeptide signaling systems

The work of the authors reported in this review was supported by grants from the BBSRC (BB/M001644/1; BB/M001032/1), the Leverhulme Trust (RGP-2013-351) and the China Scholarship Council

Transcriptome Analysis of the Desert Locust Central Nervous System: Production and Annotation of a Schistocerca gregaria EST Database

) displays a fascinating type of phenotypic plasticity, designated as ‘phase polyphenism’. Depending on environmental conditions, one genome can be translated into two highly divergent phenotypes, termed the solitarious and gregarious (swarming) phase. Although many of the underlying molecular events remain elusive, the central nervous system (CNS) is expected to play a crucial role in the phase transition process. Locusts have also proven to be interesting model organisms in a physiological and neurobiological research context. However, molecular studies in locusts are hampered by the fact that genome/transcriptome sequence information available for this branch of insects is still limited. EST information is highly complementary to the existing orthopteran transcriptomic data. Since many novel transcripts encode neuronal signaling and signal transduction components, this paper includes an overview of these sequences. Furthermore, several transcripts being differentially represented in solitarious and gregarious locusts were retrieved from this EST database. The findings highlight the involvement of the CNS in the phase transition process and indicate that this novel annotated database may also add to the emerging knowledge of concomitant neuronal signaling and neuroplasticity events. EST data constitute an important new source of information that will be instrumental in further unraveling the molecular principles of phase polyphenism, in further establishing locusts as valuable research model organisms and in molecular evolutionary and comparative entomology

Vervet monkeys socialize more when time budget constraints are experimentally reduced

In species that live in stable groups, successful management of time budget (i.e., the proportion of time involved in different behaviours) and social relationships has been proposed to be a key variable affecting individual fitness. Such management is limited by time constraints, which are group size and season dependancy. However, the link between time budget constraints and grooming patterns as a means to service social relationships has never been studied experimentally. Here, we reduced the time constraints of three wild vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops pygerythrus) groups by offering them high quality food for 60 min in the morning. We conducted 10 trials in summer and 10 trials in winter. We found that vervet monkeys indeed reduced the proportion of time spent foraging during the rest of those days compared to control days and increased the proportion of grooming time spread over more bouts. Individuals that did not get access to the food still participated as much in grooming as those that did eat. In accordance with our expectations, social network analysis revealed a larger grooming network on supplementation days: vervet monkeys used their extra time to socialize with more different group members. Furthermore, following our predictions, the effect of provisioning was usually stronger during the winter season (when food was scarce and days shorter) than during the summer, and the number of conflicts decreased during supplementation days. Finally, despite the fact that adults and juveniles of all three groups increased their proportion of time spent grooming during supplementation days, few group and age differences emerged in the way vervet monkeys manage their time budget. Interestingly, some of these differences seem to be independent of group size. In conclusion, vervet monkeys seize the opportunity to increase the proportion of time spent in social behaviours if time budget constraints are reduced