Researchers have shown for the first time how Golden orb web spiders (Nephila antipodiana) add a chemical to their web silk to repel invading ants.
Plants & Animals
Nov 23, 2011
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Toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria (Bt toxins) are used in organic and conventional farming to manage pest insects. Sprayed as pesticides or produced in genetically modified plants, Bt toxins, used in pest control ...
Biotechnology
Oct 19, 2011
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Microbes are omnipresent on earth. They are found as free-living microorganisms as well as in communities with other higher organisms. Thanks to modern biological techniques we are now able to address the complex communities ...
Biochemistry
Sep 1, 2011
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For the first time, researchers have identified how cabbage looper caterpillars in the field develop resistance to the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), which naturally occurs in the soil and on plants and has been developed ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 30, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Males of an unusual group of wasps fight to the death over females, even if they've already mated or are competing with their own brothers, a new study shows. The behaviour was seen in parasitoid wasps, which ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 9, 2011
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Trichomes, hair-like projections on leaves, are part of a plant's defense against herbivores: they can be obstacles, traps, or reservoirs for toxic substances. The hairs of wild tobacco Nicotiana attenuata contain primarily ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 25, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- With an amazing example of convergent evolution, Niels Bjerg Jensen of the University of Copenhagen published a report in Nature Communications discussing the bird's-foot trefoil plant and the burnet moth ...
(PhysOrg.com) -- Rising carbon dioxide levels associated with global warming may affect interactions between plants and the insects that eat them, altering the course of plant evolution, research at the University of Michigan ...
Evolution
Feb 16, 2011
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"Weird movements" in the abdomens of freely crawling caterpillars are making headlines in the fields of engineering and biology, says Jake Socha, Virginia Tech assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics. Beyond ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 22, 2010
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Lions, tigers and bears top the ecological pyramid-the diagram of the food chain that every school child knows. They eat smaller animals, feeding on energy that flows up from the base where plants convert ...
Ecology
Apr 15, 2010
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