#insect reproduction

[thoughtlessarse]

An ambush bug with a darker-coloured body is better at snagging a sexual partner than its brighter counterpart when it is chilly. Darker males can warm up more easily in the early mornings, and therefore get busy while everybody else is still warming up. This is one of the many examples of how temperature affects colouring in insects, and in turn can affect their ability to mate, according to a new review article published in the journal Ecology and Evolution. But scientists are still trying to work out what will happen to insects’ sex lives now that human-induced climate breakdown is raising temperatures to unprecedented levels. “On the one hand, we could be rejoicing, saying: how are the insects? They are responding to climate change. We don’t have to worry about them,” said Mariella Herberstein, a behavioural ecologist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, who is one of the authors of the study. “And then we could wake up the next day going: Oh, damn – they can’t find each other any more because they have lost really important identification colours that help them find a mate.”

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First the pesticides, now this; insect have taken an enormous hit thanks to human activity.

[jensownzoo]

Soooooo...apparently mating cicadas get tied together like dogs.

The one on the left was slowly, but determinedly, dragging their partner around by the ass. They had other things to do, dammit!

[msfarmer]

Insect Reproduction

In farming it’s pretty important to understand you insect populations. I say this because there are many types on insects and each one has a specific set of rules and roles. There are also more beneficial insects than just lady bugs and butterflies. That isn’t saying that they aren’t beneficial, but it makes sense that there would be other insects that are both beneficial and general…

[drhoz]

Hmm. It’s the only footage of Porismus strigatus I could find online (and it’s quite interesting mating behaviour) but whoever put this video up and is apparently selling the footage desn’t credit Densey Clyne, the Australian naturalist, photographer and writer, especially well known for her studies of spiders and insects. That’s her presenting the video. 

[teachezwell]

* Unintended reproduction

In yesterday’s post, I referred to my science unit on plant reproduction.  In the terrific Earthbox Junior, our plants grew at a phenomenal rate.  I used nutrient-rich Happy Frogpotting soil from a boutique plant store to avoid introducing any unwanted bacteria or critters into the planter.  The plants also came from that same pricy store.  So far, so good, as long as my dearest teaching widower…