14 posts · 5,000 views
All the news, views, and research concerning to most underappreciated majority of life: invertebrates. Features include Tuesday Toons and a Spineless Song of the Week performed by myself. Detailed articles are mixed with other spineless fun!
Kevin Zelnio
7 posts
Eric Heupel
6 posts
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- October 25, 2009
- 01:08 PM
- 164 views
Crepidula Fornicata
by Eric Heupel in The Other 95%
We've got two new Ocean Inspired Donors Choose projects that have been funded in the Oceans in the Classroom Challenge! The first one that was funded on Thursday was the awesome Invertebrates in my Tank project that will provide lots of kids with the opportunity to explore one of our favorite subjects: marine inverts! The Inverts in my Tank card is the 6 of Spades — The Slipper Snail, Crepidula fornicata.Classification for the Atlantic Slippersnail KingdomAnimalia PhylumMollusca ClassBivalv........ Read more »
Proestou DA, Goldsmith MR, & Twombly S. (2008) Patterns of male reproductive success in Crepidula fornicata provide new insight for sex allocation and optimal sex change. The Biological bulletin, 214(2), 194-202. PMID: 18401001
Richard, J., Huet, M., Thouzeau, G., & Paulet, Y. (2006) Reproduction of the invasive slipper limpet, Crepidula fornicata, in the Bay of Brest, France. Marine Biology, 149(4), 789-801. DOI: 10.1007/s00227-005-0157-4
- October 15, 2009
- 06:56 PM
- 177 views
Iceland Scallop
by Eric Heupel in The Other 95%
Time to celebrate the funding of Mrs. M.'s project, Coral Reef Flip Books, part of the Ocean Bloggers Oceans in the Classroom Initiative. Yesterday I asked for input on which card to feature, and the results are in: with 33.33% of the "vote" the Scallop of Hearts gets the next preview here. I should note that the picture on this card is likely to change before the final version, when we hopefully will get an image of a live animal without too many epibionts (organisms that live on the surface of........ Read more »
Arsenault, D., Giasson, M., & Himmelman, J. (2000) Field examination of dispersion patterns of juvenile Iceland scallops (Chlamys islandica) in the northern Gulf of St Lawrence. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, 80(3), 501-508. DOI: 10.1017/S0025315400002198
GARCIA, E. (2006) The Fishery for Iceland Scallop (Chlamys islandica) in the Northeast Atlantic. Advances in Marine Biology, 1-55. DOI: 10.1016/S0065-2881(06)51001-6
Jonasson, J., Thorarinsdottir, G., Eiriksson, H., Solmundsson, J., & Marteinsdottir, G. (2006) Collapse of the fishery for Iceland scallop (Chlamys islandica) in Breidafjordur, West Iceland. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 64(2), 298-308. DOI: 10.1093/icesjms/fsl028
WROBLEWSKI, J., BELL, T., COPELAND, A., EDINGER, E., FENG, C., SAXBY, J., SCHNEIDER, D., & SIMMS, J. (2009) Toward a sustainable Iceland scallop fishery in Gilbert Bay, a marine protected area in the eastern Canada coastal zone. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17(3), 424-430. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2008.08.004
- May 16, 2009
- 01:41 AM
- 262 views
SpeciesDay - Unionidae
by Eric Heupel in The Other 95%
It's been a bit quieter around here than Kevin and I prefer, but now the finals are all done and I can finally say "I can has cheezburger wit dat?"Seriously though, in the next month or so there will be some changes in this space... in the mean time:Did you know there are 198 invertebrates listed under the Endangered Species Act? Yep, inverts make up 34% of the 575 animals protected under ESA. But is this good or bad that inverts are underrepresented here?? Care to guess how many of those 198 a........ Read more »
Roe, K., Hartfield, P., & Lydeard, C. (2001) Phylogeographic analysis of the threatened and endangered superconglutinate-producing mussels of the genus Lampsilis (Bivalvia: Unionidae). Molecular Ecology, 10(9), 2225-2234. DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-294X.2001.01361.x
Bogan, A., & Roe, K. (2008) Freshwater bivalve (Unioniformes) diversity, systematics, and evolution: status and future directions. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 27(2), 349-369. DOI: 10.1899/07-069.1
Barnhart, M., Haag, W., & Roston, W. (2008) Adaptations to host infection and larval parasitism in Unionoida. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 27(2), 370-394. DOI: 10.1899/07-093.1
- February 2, 2009
- 01:11 AM
- 331 views
Cephalopod-tastic Friday
by Eric Heupel in The Other 95%
Roger Hanlon, from the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, came out to UCONN's Avery Point campus to present for our Friday seminar series. His presentation was a good overview of his lab's work on cephalopod camouflage behavior over the past decades, with the majority of the discussion on the work they have done recently with the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis. So I hope you will bear with me while I gush on a bit about my favorite group of animals and their amazing adaptations, which allow ........ Read more »
Alexandra Barbosa, Leonild Litman, & Roger T. Hanlon. (2008) Changeable cuttlefish camouflage is influenced by horizontal and vertical aspects of the visual background. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 194(4), 405-413. DOI: 10.1007/s00359-007-0311-1
A BARBOSA, L MATHGER, K BURESCH, J KELLY, C CHUBB, C CHIAO, & R HANLON. (2008) Cuttlefish camouflage: The effects of substrate contrast and size in evoking uniform, mottle or disruptive body patterns. Vision Research, 48(10), 1242-1253. DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2008.02.011
A. Barbosa, L. M. Mathger, C. Chubb, C. Florio, C.-C. Chiao, & R. T. Hanlon. (2007) Disruptive coloration in cuttlefish: a visual perception mechanism that regulates ontogenetic adjustment of skin patterning. Journal of Experimental Biology, 210(7), 1139-1147. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.02741
Roger T. Hanlon, Marie‐José Naud, John W. Forsythe, Karina Hall, Anya C. Watson, & Joy McKechnie. (2007) Adaptable Night Camouflage by Cuttlefish. The American Naturalist, 169(4), 543-551. DOI: 10.1086/512106
Roger T. Hanlon, Marié-Jose Naud, Paul W. Shaw, & Jon N. Havenhand. (2005) Behavioural ecology: Transient sexual mimicry leads to fertilization. Nature, 433(7023), 212-212. DOI: 10.1038/433212a
Lydia M. Mäthger, Chuan-Chin Chiao, Alexandra Barbosa, & Roger T. Hanlon. (2008) Color matching on natural substrates in cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 194(6), 577-585. DOI: 10.1007/s00359-008-0332-4
L MATHGER, A BARBOSA, S MINER, & R HANLON. (2006) Color blindness and contrast perception in cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis) determined by a visual sensorimotor assay. Vision Research, 46(11), 1746-1753. DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2005.09.035
Richard L. Sutherland, Lydia M. Mäthger, Roger T. Hanlon, Augustine M. Urbas, & Morley O. Stone. (2008) Cephalopod coloration model. II. Multiple layer skin effects. Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 25(8), 2044. DOI: 10.1364/JOSAA.25.002044
- November 26, 2008
- 12:56 AM
- 426 views
Starvation is the Thread That Binds Amoebas Together
by Kevin Zelnio in The Other 95%
When the going gets tough, the starved huddle together en masse. You might expect this behavior from musk oxen, schools of fish or even armies of anemones. New research published in the open access journal PLoS Biology demonstrates that our spineless protistan cousins, the amoeba, seek out genetically similar relatives when they are under stress. They aggregate together to form a fruiting body which will carry their genetic information safely on when better days arrive. This happens at an expens........ Read more »
Elizabeth A. Ostrowski, Mariko Katoh, Gad Shaulsky, David C. Queller, & Joan E. Strassmann. (2008) Kin Discrimination Increases with Genetic Distance in a Social Amoeba. PLoS Biology, 6(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060287
- September 18, 2008
- 11:03 PM
- 461 views
Wilted Greens
by Eric Heupel in The Other 95%
Differential Grasshopper by Eclectic Echoes ©2008 BY-NCDid you know that the Differential Grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis) prefers wilted or damaged sunflowers? This one is seen on a sunflower that was damaged in recent winds we had here (tail end of Hanna). I wondered why it was that the grasshoppers (2 found) and the evidence of grasshopper activity – chewed leaves and copious amounts of feces – was all on the damaged sunflowers and not on the still healthy plants.In 1984, A. C. Le........ Read more »
A. C. Lewis. (1984) Plant Quality and Grasshopper Feeding: Effects of Sunflower Condition on Preference and Performance in Melanoplus Differentialis. Ecology, 65(3), 836-843. DOI: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici
- September 5, 2008
- 12:01 AM
- 472 views
Right Whale Lice
by Eric Heupel in The Other 95%
Cyamus ovalis Photo: Vicky Rowntree, University of UtahIn an earlier post, I joked (well half joked) about the need to save the whale lice, even if you don't care about the right whales. I thought today I would expand on the brief comment about the lice and their special relationship with whale and how they can actually tell us about the populations of right whales and their evolution. Image courtesy of Mariano Sironi, Institute of Whale Conservation, Buenos AiresIn the image above you can see ........ Read more »
Zofia a. Kaliszewska, Jon Seger, Victoria J. Rowntree, Susan G. Barco, Rafael Benegas, Peter B. Best, Moira W. Brown, Robert L. Brownell, Alejandro Carribero, Robert Harcourt.... (2005) Population histories of right whales (Cetacea: Eubalaena) inferred from mitochondrial sequence diversities and divergences of their whale lice (Amphipoda: Cyamus). Molecular Ecology, 14(11), 3439-3456. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02664.x
- July 16, 2008
- 12:00 AM
- 433 views
Insect Ejaculate Attracts Parasites x2
by Kevin Zelnio in The Other 95%
Kevin and I have been anxiously waiting for PNAS to release this one, since we saw it in Nature A few years ago a Nature Brief Communication described the interesting relationship between the cabbage white butterfly (Pieris brassicae) and the parasitic wasp Trichogramma brassicae. The wasp parasitizes the eggs of the butterfly laid on plants of the cabbage family. The wasp, when given the choice between virgin or mated cabbage white butterfly females, was able to detect and showed a strong pref........ Read more »
Nina Fatouros, Gabriella Bukovinszkine'Kiss, Lucas A Kalkers, Roxina Soler Gamborena, Marcel Dicke, & Monika Hilker. (2005) Oviposition-induced plant cues: do they arrest Trichogramma wasps during host location?. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, 115(1), 207-215. DOI: 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2005.00245.x
Nina Fatouros, Martinus E Huigens, Joop J van Loon, Marcel Dicke, & Monika Hilker. (2005) Chemical communication: Butterfly anti-aphrodisiac lures parasitic wasps. Nature, 433(7027), 704-704. DOI: 10.1038/433704a
N Fatouros, C Broekgaarden, G Bukovinszkine'Kiss, J J van Loon, R Mumm, M E Huigens, M Dicke, & M Hilker. (2008) Male-derived butterfly anti-aphrodisiac mediates induced indirect plant defense. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0707809105
- July 11, 2008
- 11:01 AM
- 430 views
Free Access to Internet Resources Helps Conservation
by Kevin Zelnio in The Other 95%
OK, a slight digression on the theme today. We are going to talk about a paper involving the endemic flora of Trinidad and Tobago, but we won't discuss plants. Instead, we'll talk about open access to information. In a paper just out in the conservation journal Oryx, Van Den Eynden and colleagues discuss how they evaluated plant endemism, conservation status and reserve effectiveness utilizing only freely available online resources from the internet and local Herbaria. There were sever........ Read more »
Veerle Van den Eynden, Michael Oatham, & Winston Johnson. (2008) How free access internet resources benefit biodiversity and conservation research: Trinidad and Tobago's endemic plants and their conservation status. Oryx, 42(03). DOI: 10.1017/S0030605308007321
- June 15, 2008
- 12:00 AM
- 349 views
Optically Buggin'
by Kevin Zelnio in The Other 95%
It's an overcast ugly day here, so this morning while waiting for the sea shanty festival to start, I thought I should get something more serious posted to the site. This one made the rounds of the physical and material science news sites a few weeks ago when the original press release went out. After the paper was actually published I was able to find some time to read it —"Bugs" and computing are intimately linked throughout computing history (and electronic engineering in general). Moths we........ Read more »
Jeremy Galusha, Lauren R Richey, John S Gardner, Jennifer N Cha, & Michael H Bartl. (2008) Discovery of a diamond-based photonic crystal structure in beetle scales. Physical Review E, 77(5). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.77.050904
- May 25, 2008
- 11:01 PM
- 342 views
Cave Inverts Prefer Exotics
by Kevin Zelnio in The Other 95%
While the deep-sea may be the final frontier for marine biologists, caves are one of the least studied environments on land. Some caves can extend dozens of miles below the ground in sinuous networks, all but cut off from the grassy hills and tree-lined horizons above. Its not an easy environment to access and many explorers have perished attempting to map these subterranean labyrinths. Yet, recent investigations have found an astonishing community of invertebrates associated with caves, existin........ Read more »
NICOLE HILLS, GRANT HOSE, ANDREW CANTLAY, & BRAD MURRAY. (2008) Cave invertebrate assemblages differ between native and exotic leaf litter. Austral Ecology, 33(3), 271-277. DOI: 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2007.01814.x
- May 25, 2008
- 12:00 AM
- 361 views
Crustacean Larval Degeneration
by Kevin Zelnio in The Other 95%
I remember the brief discussion in Invert Biology about the 100 year old mystery of the "y-larvae" crustacean. The jist of the conversation was that there was still much to learn about larval development of many crustaceans and there were some which were known as larvae but not as adults, for instance... "y-larvae" (also known as Facetotectans), a taxa of crustaceans which is described solely on the basis of the naupliar and cyprid larval stages.Pachenik's Invertebrate Biology, the standard und........ Read more »
Henrik Glenner, Jens Hoeg, Mark Grygier, & Fujita Yoshihisa. (2008) Induced metamorphosis in crustacean y-larvae: Towards a solution to a 100-year-old riddle. BMC Biology, 6(21).
- April 8, 2008
- 11:01 PM
- 412 views
Isopods Cause Reproductive Death in Shrimp
by Kevin Zelnio in The Other 95%
Isopods, you know them as those adorable little roly-poly bugs under rocks in the forest or the gigantic Bathynomus of the deep sea. They are also those cute and cuddly parasites in the gill chamber of shrimp too! Awww, How special! In the recent issue of JMBA-UK, Calado et al. describe how these fuzzy wittle darlings castrate their shrimpity hosts.The isopod in question is the Argeiopsis inhacae, a member of the parasitic family of isopods - Bopyridae. They don't start off as the lovely pa........ Read more »
Ricardo Calado, Cátia Bartilotti, Joseph Goy, & Maria Dinis. (2008) Parasitic castration of the stenopodid shrimp Stenopus hispidus (Decapoda: Stenopodidae) induced by the bopyrid isopod Argeiopsis inhacae (Isopoda: Bopyridae). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, 88(02). DOI: 10.1017/S0025315408000684
- February 5, 2008
- 12:01 AM
- 380 views
Oops! Another Discovery Institute Abuse & Misuse
by Kevin Zelnio in The Other 95%
I guess its to be expected, Intelligent Design proponents just can't seem to tell the truth. Case in point: Casey Luskin, a Discovery Institute lackey attempts his first take at participating in the Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting (BPR3) with a post demonstrating how a recently published article in PLoS ONE using the icon copyrighted by BPR3. Anyone is free to use this icon, you've seen it many times on this blog, so long as they register their blog and abide by the guid........ Read more »
Leslie Orgel. (2008) The Implausibility of Metabolic Cycles on the Prebiotic Earth. PLoS Biology, 6(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060018
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