News by Subject Biology

A team of researchers from Utah State University, University of California, Davis and Yale University are using a machine-learning approach to map landscape connectivity of the species Aedes aegypti, the so-called Yellow Fever mosquito, which is a primary vector for transmission of viruses causing dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika.

Researchers from Osaka University have found that a biological clock gene is needed in bean bugs for seasonal egg-laying. The clock gene regulates egg-laying according to the period of day length (short vs long) via a day length-dependent response by the insects' neurons. This work and future studies will help to further the understanding of how animal brains process seasonal information in their responses to day length at the cellular level.

In one species of ants, workers duel to establish new leadership after the death of their queen. While these sparring matches stretch for more than a month, changes in behavior and gene expression in the first three days of dueling can accurately predict who will triumph, according to a New York University study published in the journal Genes & Development.

Like a scene from a horror movie, tomato fruitworm caterpillars silence their food plants' cries for help as they devour their leaves. That is the finding of a multidisciplinary team of researchers, who said the results may yield insights into the abilities of crop plants -- such as tomato and soybean -- to withstand additional stressors, like climate change.

Wasps provide crucial support to their extended families by babysitting at neighbouring nests, according to new research by a team of biologists from the universities of Bristol, Exeter and UCL published today [15 February] in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

A recent study finds that the invasive spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) prefers to lay its eggs in places that no other spotted wing flies have visited. The finding raises questions about how the flies can tell whether a piece of fruit is virgin territory - and what that might mean for pest control.