Investigating the effects of glyphosate on the bumblebee proteome and microbiota

Glyphosate is one of the most widely used herbicides globally. It acts by inhibiting an enzyme in an aromatic amino acid synthesis pathway specific to plants and microbes, leading to the view that it poses no risk to other organisms. However, there is growing concern that glyphosate is associated with health effects in humans and an ever-increasing body of evidence that suggests potential deleterious effects on other animals including pollinating insects such as bees. Although pesticides have long been considered a factor in the decline of wild bee populations, most research on bees has focussed on demonstrating and understanding the effects of insecticides. To assess whether glyphosate poses a risk to bees, we characterised changes in survival, behaviour, sucrose solution consumption, the digestive tract proteome, and the microbiota in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris after chronic exposure to field relevant doses of technical grade glyphosate or the glyphosate-based formulation, RoundUp Optima+®. Regardless of source, there were changes in response to glyphosate exposure in important cellular and physiological processes in the digestive tract of B. terrestris, with proteins associated with oxidative stress regulation, metabolism, cellular adhesion, the extracellular matrix, and various signalling pathways altered. Interestingly, proteins associated with endocytosis, oxidative phosphorylation, the TCA cycle, and carbohydrate, lipid, and amino acid metabolism were differentially altered depending on whether the exposure source was glyphosate alone or RoundUp Optima+®. In addition, there were alterations to the digestive tract microbiota of bees depending on the glyphosate source No impacts on survival, behaviour, or food consumption were observed. Our research provides insights into the potential mode of action and consequences of glyphosate exposure at the molecular, cellular and organismal level in bumblebees and highlights issues with the current honeybee-centric risk assessment of pesticides and their formulations, where the impact of co-formulants on non-target organisms are generally overlooked

DEMONSTRATING ADAPTABILITY: ROLE MODELLING MULTIDISCIPLINARY LEARNING IN THE LAB, ONLINE AND AT HOME

In this paper we analyse changes required in the role of laboratory demonstrators to support students across a mid-semester move to online learning in response to COVID-19. ‘Multidisciplinary Laboratories’ is a large (~450 students) first-year, multi-campus course at the University of Newcastle that is organised around two multifaceted investigations: ‘Water – would you drink it?’, and ‘Energy – can it be sustainable?’. The course introduces students each week to diverse disciplinary perspectives, i.e. Environmental Science and Management, Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, Human Geography, Earth Sciences, and Physics. The teaching cohort in each laboratory session (~45 students) comprises a discipline-specific academic lead that changes weekly, and two demonstrators who remain with the class for the whole semester. As laboratories moved online, demonstrators supported students’ learning through synchronous live classes, experiments at home, virtual experiments and asynchronous materials including video tutorials. Importantly, demonstrators have role-modelled for students adaptability under conditions of uncertainty. Analysis of evaluative data including Blackboard engagement records, student surveys and demonstrators’ observations suggests effectively supporting students’ learning required nuanced and important changes in demonstrators’ roles including technical aspects, and techniques for engaging students and facilitating classes

Measuring Implicit Sexual Response Biases to Nude Male and Female Pictures in Androphilic and Gynephilic Men

Snowden, Wichter, and Gray (2008) demonstrated that an Implicit Association Test and a Priming Task both predicted the sexual orientation of gynephilic and androphilic men in terms of their attraction biases towards pictures of nude males and females. For both measures, relative bias scores were obtained, with no information on the separate response biases to each target gender. The present study sought to extend this research by assessing both relative and individual implicit biases using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). An explicit measure screened for men with androphilic (n = 16) or gynephilic (n = 16) orientations on the dimensions of “sexual attraction,” “sexual behavior,” “sexual fantasies,” “hetero/gay lifestyle,” and “self identification.” The IRAP involved responding “True” or “False” to pictures of nude males and females as either attractive or unattractive. Participants were required to respond in a manner consistent with their reported sexual orientation for half of the IRAP’s test blocks and inconsistent for the other half. Response latencies were recorded and analyzed. The IRAP revealed a non-orthogonal pattern of biases across the two groups and had an excellent ability to predict sexual orientation with areas under the curves of 1.0 for the relative bias score and .94 and .95 for the bias scores for the male and female pictures, respectively. Correlations between the IRAP and explicit measures of sexual orientation were consistently high. The findings support the IRAP as a potentially valuable tool in the study of sexual preferences

Measuring implicit sexual response biases to nude male and female pictures in androphilic and gynephilic men

Snowden, Wichter, and Gray (2008) demonstrated that an Implicit Association Test and a Priming Task both predicted the sexual orientation of gynephilic and androphilic men in terms of their attraction biases towards pictures of nude males and females. For both measures, relative bias scores were obtained, with no information on the separate response biases to each target gender. The present study sought to extend this research by assessing both relative and individual implicit biases using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP). An explicit measure screened for men with androphilic (n = 16) or gynephilic (n = 16) orientations on the dimensions of "sexual attraction," "sexual behavior," "sexual fantasies," "hetero/gay lifestyle," and "self identification." The IRAP involved responding "True" or "False" to pictures of nude males and females as either attractive or unattractive. Participants were required to respond in a manner consistent with their reported sexual orientation for half of the IRAP's test blocks and inconsistent for the other half. Response latencies were recorded and analyzed. The IRAP revealed a non-orthogonal pattern of biases across the two groups and had an excellent ability to predict sexual orientation with areas under the curves of 1.0 for the relative bias score and .94 and .95 for the bias scores for the male and female pictures, respectively. Correlations between the IRAP and explicit measures of sexual orientation were consistently high. The findings support the IRAP as a potentially valuable tool in the study of sexual preferences

Myth busters

Did you like our Myth Busters article in the last edition of Rattler? In times of change, common misconceptions crop up and tend to proliferate. Rattler talks to experts and educators to debunk more rumours, myths and whispers and help paint a clearer picture of early childhood education and care practice.4 page(s

Psychosocial interventions for problem alcohol use in illicit drug users (Protocol)

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows:To determine the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions targeting problem alcohol use versus other treatments in illicit drug users.Health Research Boardau, ke - kpw4/11/1

You’re Reading Into It: Queering Contemporary Minimalism

Group exhibition