science – Open Access Biology Summaries

Monkey business: how pinworms shape genetic diversity in howler monkeys

ft. Inconsistent Capitalisation From: “Co-structure analysis and genetic associations reveal insights into pinworms (Trypanoxyuris) and primates (Alouatta palliata) microevolutionary dynamics”, B. Solórzano-García, E. Vázquez-Domínguez, G. Pérez-Ponce de León & D. Piñero, BMC Ecology and Evolution 21:190 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-021-01924-4 One of the most important drivers of evolutionary change is parasitism. Parasitic organisms are by definition detrimental …

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What can a 1700s Ship’s Surgeon tell us about assumptions in Science?

One thing that scientists and historians of science understand instinctively, but I think is underappreciated elsewhere, is that scientists’ assumptions shape not only how we interpret experimental results, but also how we design our experiments. The ways we think about things, what we understand our experimental subjects and variables to be, certain assumptions we make …

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Shell Games: How different Hermit Crabs coexist

From: “Shell resource partitioning as a mechanism of coexistence in two co-occurring terrestrial hermit crab species”, S. Steibl & C. Laforsch (2020), BMC Ecology 20:1 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12898-019-0268-2 A fairly fundamental concept in ecology and evolutionary ecology is the competitive exclusion principle – that complete competitors cannot coexist. That is, a situation in which two species which …

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Plastic-eating bacteria: coming to a biorecycler near you?

From: “Toward Biorecycling: Isolation of a Soil Bacterium That Grows on a Polyurethane Oligomer and Monomer”, M.J.C. Espinosa, A.C. Blanco, T. Schmidgall, A.K. Atanasoff-Jardjalieff, E. Kappelmeyer, D. Tischler, D.H. Pieper, H.J. Heipieper and C. Eberlein (2020). Frontiers in Microbiology https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.00404 Plastic is a problem. We pump oil out of the ground, turn it into something …

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Hatching a plan: how modern genetics shed light on an 80-year old theory

From: “Transcriptome of pleuropodia from locust embryos supports that these organs produce enzymes enabling the larva to hatch” B. Koponová, E. Nichberger and A. Crisp (2020), Frontiers in Zoology 17:4 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-019-0349-2 When developing inside the egg, many insects develop small organs just below their final pair of legs called pleuropodia. These have been found in …

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How did malaria get to the Americas?

From: “Plasmodium vivax Malaria Viewed through the Lens of an Eradicated European Strain”, L. van Dorp, P. Gelabert, A. Riuex, M. de Manuel, T. de-Dios, S. Gopalakrishnan, C. Carøe, M. Sandoval-Velasco, R. Fregel, I. Olalde et al (2019), Molecular Biology and Evolution msz264 https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msz264 Malaria is, worldwide, a huge danger to human life. It is …

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Seeing red: why do all these beetles look like each other?

From: “Persistence of multiple patterns and intraspecific polymorphism in multi-species Müllerian communities of net-winged beetles”, M. Bocek, D. Kusy, M. Motyka and L. Bocak (2019). Frontiers in Zoology 16:38 https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12983-019-0335-8 We’ve all seen warning colouration – the stripes on bees and wasps, the bright hues of snakes and the colourful spots of tropical frogs all …

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Plant oils: the future of food preservation?

From: “Insecticidal Activity of Four Plant Essential Oils against Two Stored Product Beetles”, K. Saeidi and H. Pezhman (2018), Entomology, Ornithology & Herpetology 7:3 https://doi.org/10.4172/2161-0983.1000213 Storage pests are a real problem in feeding the planet, and can result in huge losses of stored crops that have taken many months to grow. Insects, especially beetles such …

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How useful are bednets in preventing leishmaniasis?

From: “Effect of insecticide-treated bed nets on visceral leishmaniasis incidence in Bangladesh. A retrospective cohort analysis”, R. Chowdhury, V. Chowdhury, S. Faria, S. Akter, A.P. Dash, S.K. Bhattacharya, N.P. Maheswary, C. Bern, S. Akhter, J. Alvar, A. Kroeger, M. Boelaert, and Q. Banu (2019), PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases 13:9 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007724 The founding principle of public …

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Is there a downside to flight? Looking for trade-offs in bush-crickets

From: “Contrasting patterns of macroptery in Roesel’s bush cricket Metrioptera roeselii (Orthoptera, Ensifera)”, S. Szanyi, A. Nagy, I.A. Rácz, Z. Varga (2014), Estonian Journal of Ecology 63:4 doi: 10.3176/eco.2014.4.07 Click to access ecol-2014-4-299-311.pdf Roesel’s bush-crickets (Metrioptera roeselii) have been presenting an interesting problem to scientists in recent years. Why? Because they have been expanding across …

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