Adventure Ausrama Blog

Pesticides have side effects on animals and humans. A particular  neonicotinoid pesticide is making birds lose weight . In Canadian research crowned sparrows were given low and high amounts of imidaclprid on seeds. Even birds on the low dose lost weight within six hours compared to a control group. The high amount killed some birds. It seems that appetite is suppressed. White-crowned sparrow The aves who received the low dose had transmitters attached and were released. Those on the low dose did not leave for three days and those on the high dose left in four days. The control birds flew within half a day.  It is believed that imidacloprid had to be worked out of the body. Only a minuscule amount of the pesticide stopped the birds from eating. Earlier research has shown that imidacloprid kills bees. It means the whole bird and insect family is susceptible to the pesticide. Something has to be done. Both groups of birds ate agricultural seed from crops and fattene...

It is not widely known just how important bees are to maintain our food output, let alone to increase it as demand strengthens. There are so many mysteries to why bees are dying off across the world. Many theories are put forward. Unfortunately, there are few answers to the problem. We need to look after the human friendly insect. It could eventually be found that bees are being killed off by chemicals. However, like other animals bees need chemicals to treat illnesses. When they become infected they change their foraging habits seeking pollen from plants that store certain chemicals. The solution to bee die-off could lie in studying this phenomenon. Plants synthesize chemicals that attract select species of pollinators. Other substance also deter potential attackers. Herbivores have been real pests to plants for millions of years. Eating the leaves can kill plants. Insects have evolved to go where plant toxins drive herbivores away. All nectar is not the same...

Bees calculate how much energy they need to get pollen. To survive, bees must run on a "profit" basis. They must not use more energy in obtaining nectar than energy the nectar provides. Bees were given the choice of travelling along two pathways to get nectar. One pathway was 10 meters long, the other 20 meters. However, the "scenery" of the 10 meter pathway was designed to trick the bees into perceiving that it was the furthest distance away. When the bees returned to their fellows in the nest they told them with a waggle dance which pathway to use to get more pollen. Despite the 10 meter pathway appearing to the bees to be further away they told other bees to go to the feeder in the 10 meter pathway. Somehow, they had worked out that it used up less energy to go to this feeder than the one on the other pathway. It is believed that bees have "calorimeters" built into their brains. They do not judge energy expenditure solely based on distance travelled...

We have large brains due to social interaction.  In early societies culture meant things had to be remembered.  Another important function leading to large brains was tools use, though chimpanzees use tools.  The most intelligent people would inevitably become leaders and have the choice of mates, thus passing on their genes. Intelligence and brain size are of course interdependent.  Animals such as dolphins and elephants have social structures.  They are also very intelligent.  Higher intelligence appears to be naturally selected for in any species. Apparently, when society develops intelligence must increase otherwise an individual will be "put upon" by the smarter ones.  There is some evidence that really clever individuals tend to be disruptive to a society.  The naive are certainly at a disadvantage. A thorn in the side of the above theory is that some highly structured societies are composed of small creatures with tiny brains....

It was thought that bees were like robots who went about their work on instinct alone, but some bees have "curious" genes. The scouts who find sources of food are actually mischievous seekers. Their genes give them a brain structure similar to humans. Scout bees are independent creatures who don't go along with the mob. They find new food sources by intuition and pure skill. Being female, they go back to the hive do a wiggle dance to pass on directions, then go out again to find a new source. Tests were done on a hive of bees. The hive was put into an enclosure and food was put out in different colored jars. Bees that located the jars were collected and marked with a dot of paint. Later the brains of these scout bees were removed and compared with the brains of normal hive bees. Brain activity in the genes of the two types of bees differed by 16 per cent. The brains of scouts could change the levels of neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate. Another test w...

Do you know if you are drinking a good wine? Well, you won't need a wine connoisseur to find out. Queensland Brain Institute is carrying out research to detect a good wine by "smell". Using bees' "noses" in fact. Bees have an extremely sensitive sense of smell. The aroma of wine is being blown over bees, and it is being noted how they react. Eventually, machines will be developed that will imitate the bees' sensitivity. The electronic noses will be used in wine production to monitor the production process to ensure a good quality wine for the market. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia http://www.technorati.com/blogs/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Biology