Chickadee, nutchatch presence in conifers increases tree growth, says CU-Boulder study
...trients through the tree, Mooney said. While some ant species "tend" aphid colonies -- protecting them from predators in exchange for their carbohydrate-high "honeydew" secretions - feeding activity by birds can disrupt this relationship, triggering aphid population decreases and increases in tree growt...Reap what your ancestors sowed
...mple, cheaters could still enjoy the shelter of an ant nest or a building for some time even if it is not being maintained. But freeloaders can also increase so rapidly that in a generations time the whole building collapses, says Brown. If you have social dilemmas [where there are cooperators and c...Wood ant queen has no egg-laying monopoly
The reproductive monopoly of the ant queen is not as strong as is often thought. Dr. He...ment and egg laying in nine Northern European wood ant species of the genus Formica, and revealed wide spread reproductive endeavours by workers. For examp...Researchers find 24 species believed new to science in Suriname rainforest
...ecies, six species of fish, 12 dung beetles and an ant species. The scientists also found 27 species endemic to the Guayana Shield region comprising Suriname and neighboring Guyana, French Guiana and northern Brazil, including a rare armored catfish, Harttiella crassicauda, feared extinct because gold mi...Ants show us how to make super-highways
...y specialised behaviour performed by a minority of ant workers can improve the performance of the majorit...rmy ants trails to see how well different sizes of ant matched different sizes of pot hole. Indeed, they fit beautifully", explained Franks. Overall, th...Fire ants are emerging nuisance for Virginians
... to learn more about the increasing number of fire ant infestations. "Virginia Cooperative Extension ha...ices (VDACS) currently manages and treats all fire ant infestations in the commonwealth. Most homeowners and landscape workers do not have the training or ...Flexible genes allow ants to change destiny
...isposition to grow into a particular worker caste, ant larvae can be triggered by environmental stimuli t...logical Sciences. "This left us with a conundrum: ant colonies are a model of social efficiency, yet if genetics ruled caste development, then this would ...Some caterpillers just don't want to grow up
... both years do not always compete because infected ant colonies avoid re-infection in the next season favor evolutionary stable fractions of slow developers up to 50%. However, among all arguments suggested so far, only a "priority effect" the competitive asymmetry between last year's slow and this yea...Unpeaceful co-existence: How strengths and weaknesses maintain biodiversity in an ant community
...nimportant. For both large and small crickets, two ant species are adept at both finding and defending re...eling the potential success or failure of invasive ant species," concludes Don Feener. ......Now scientists have discovered how the humble wood ant navigates over proportionally huge distances, usin...lier ants. This is a slow way of travelling as the ant needs to walk with its antennae to the ground. However, this initial route forms the basis of an eff...Fire ant-attacking fly spreading rapidly in Texas
...their victims. Researchers place traps around fire ant mounds along roads and analyze the flies they catc...2001, says Dr. Larry Gilbert, director of the fire ant research program and professor of integrative biology, but they are now spreading three-to-10 miles ...California scientists find natural way to control spread of destructive Argentine ants
... fire ants, Argentine ants are now the most common ant in California, Shea said. ...Trap-jaw ants have fastest recorded strike in animal kingdom
Berkeley -- A species of ant native to Central and South America is entering th...t the jaws, used to capture prey and to defend the ant from harm, accelerate at 100,000 times the force of gravity, with each jaw generating forces exceedi...Rapid-fire jaws propel ants to safety
...sta Rica. Typical prey includes termites and other ant species; predators include spiders, frogs and liza... the escape jump. When a threat was too large, the ant would snap its jaws off the ground, launching itself up to 8 centimeters in the air. Though not as...Worker ants store fat to share with colony members during times of need
...nfertilized eggs. For perennial organisms, such as ant colonies, investing heavily in nutrient stores whe...rage during ontogeny among colonies of a number of ant species, and now has been shown to contribute to between-species differences as well," Hahn writes. ...Symbiotic fungus does not depend on fungus-farming ants for reproduction, researchers say
...s for their dispersal and reproduction. When young ant queens establish new colonies, they take a start-u...ually and disperse widely without the aid of their ant farmers. Different genera of the ants, it turns out, are essentially cultivating the same fungus ...Fire ants: Their true story told by the scientist who loves them
.... Then there's Walter R. Tschinkel. An ardent fire ant fan and one of its foremost researchers for more t...ety of pesthood has certainly created a large fire ant folklore and scores of amusing factoids," he writes, though that same notoriety has generated substa...Biotech cotton provides same yield with fewer pesticides
...ated area. That allowed the researchers to compare ant and beetle biodiversity among the various cotton fields and the uncropped areas. The team used Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and LANDSAT satellite imagery to map the fields and evaluate plant growth in the non-cultivated areas. Plant growth...Ancient DNA provides clues to the evolution of social behavior
...id development of social behavior in the Argentine ant when it colonized North America, she says, and even in ancient human populations. At the very least, combining ancient and modern DNA with population models will help geneticists understand the role population size and structure play in the maintenan...Story tips from the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, April 2006
...eveloping a disposable sensor network based on the ant colony mathematical model, which enables large numbers of sensors to self-organize and collect and exchange information. This can be used, for example, by 1,000 or more battery-powered sensors deployed in strategic locations to monitor environmental ...