{"id":4197,"date":"2010-11-04T10:54:57","date_gmt":"2010-11-04T14:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=4197"},"modified":"2010-11-04T10:54:57","modified_gmt":"2010-11-04T14:54:57","slug":"from-the-community-parasitic-wasps-flamingo-pigment-and-spiny-anteaters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2010\/11\/04\/from-the-community-parasitic-wasps-flamingo-pigment-and-spiny-anteaters\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Community: Parasitic wasps, flamingo pigment and spiny anteaters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Altered behavior in caterpillars carrying wasp eggs, preliminary thoughts on the 2010 election results, monitoring climate change from Mount Everest to Baffin Bay, insight into drug-resistant bacteria mutations and origins of the Black Death. Here is the latest in ecological science for the first week in November.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wasp hosts:<\/strong> The above video, featured on the blog Southern Fried Science<\/em> for the Biodiversity Wednesday segment, and produced by New Scientist<\/em>, shows the behavioral changes in caterpillars that are serving as hosts to parasitic wasps. The caterpillar thrashes its body to protect the wasp eggs from potential predators. See<\/a> the original post at \u201cBiodiversity Wednesday: Zombie caterpillar controlled by wasp.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

2010 Election:<\/strong> Several sites have been covering the 2010 midterm election results and what it means for science and the environment. Andy Coghlan with New Scientist<\/a><\/em> took a state-level look at new policies voted in this election, calling the results a \u201cmixed blessing for science.\u201d Andrew Revkin from The New York Times<\/em>\u2019 blog<\/a> Dot Earth<\/em> encouraged a better public understanding of the importance of energy sources beyond coal and oil. And Mathew Nisbett on Big Think<\/em>\u2019s blog<\/a> Age of Engagement<\/em> lays out \u201ca post-partisan plan to engage the public on climate change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Monitoring climate change:<\/strong> This week, Nature News<\/em> posted two stories on extraordinary ways of collecting data on climate change from the sky and the sea. One story<\/a> featured the methods used by Angela Marinoni from the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate in Bologna, Italy for data collection on aerosols and radiation: She is stationed at the Pyramid Laboratory in the Khumbu Valley on Mount Everest\u2019s south side. Lucas Laursen also reports<\/a> on data collected by thermometer-wearing narwhals which have shown \u201cthe cold water beneath the winter pack ice in Baffin Bay [between Canada and Greenland] is getting warmer.\u201d Information on the narwhal project can also be found on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s website<\/a> as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Flamingo make-up:<\/strong> According to a study<\/a> from the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology<\/em>, and described by Sarah Zielinski from Smithsonian\u2019s Surprising Science<\/em> blog<\/a>, flamingos acquire carotenoids from their diet and use these pigments to color their feathers pink for attracting mates. In addition, once the birds have located a mate, they discontinue this practice. Read more<\/a> at \u201cPink Flamingoes Attract Mates With Make-Up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Resistant bacteria:<\/strong> In a recent Scientific American<\/em> article, Melinda Wenner Moyer reported on a study by James Collins from Boston University and colleagues who \u201cfound that small numbers of drug-resistant bacteria help their vulnerable counterparts survive antibiotic onslaughts, even at a cost to themselves.\u201d In other words, mutated bacteria secreted the molecule indole that benefited the rest of the bacteria population but stunted the growth of the mutated bacteria. Read more<\/a> at \u201cNice Germs Finish Last: \u2018Good Samaritan\u2019 Bacteria Provide New Clues in Antibiotic Resistance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Also, the illegal trade of spiny anteaters<\/a>, evolution and human obesity<\/a>, gut bacteria<\/a> determining the sexual preferences of fruit flies, origins of the Black Death<\/a>, retelling the life of ancient giant shrimp<\/a> and rivers link human and environmental health<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Altered behavior in caterpillars carrying wasp eggs, preliminary thoughts on the 2010 election results, monitoring climate change from Mount Everest to Baffin Bay, insight into drug-resistant bacteria mutations and origins of the Black Death. Here is the latest in ecological science for the first week in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1032,638,650,60,1033,1034,1035,854,751],"class_list":["post-4197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research","tag-anteaters","tag-bacteria","tag-caterpillars","tag-climate-change","tag-election","tag-flamingos","tag-narwhals","tag-parasitoid-wasps","tag-wasps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}