The Bug Lab
Daily Account: The Bug Lab
May 3, 2012
Today we went to the Entomology lab in Johnson Hall to talk to Evan Sugden about the study of insects and how they connect to natural history. I learned a lot from this class and now am beginning to understand why some people find insects so interesting.
He began by pointing out that if an alien were looking at earth from afar, he wouldn’t say this is the planet of the apes, or anything else, he would call it the “planet of the insects,” due to the fact that in terms of population insects dominate our planet and are the most diverse body of species living here. They are also immensely important, and we couldn’t really get along without them. Although I knew insects were everywhere, I didn’t realize what the numbers actually look like, and how they contribute directly and indirectly to our lives and function. Evan grouped their activities into those that affect the natural world and the human world. In the natural world, the things insects do are neither good nor bad, they just are, something I’ve heard before in my animal behavior class via natural selection and evolution, which is what may be happening, but whether or not it should be happening is a human perspective apart from the raw course of behavior. In the natural world, bugs provide food for other organisms like salmon, which makes sense, but what surprised me is that without insects, we probably wouldn’t have salmon, which would be terrible for many other reasons as well. We would also be buried under layers of waste if it weren’t for insects like flies, termites, and dung beetles; those who commit acts such as chewing holes in rotten wood so bacteria can do its part and finish the decomposition process. They are also a part of soil formation, something I’d like to understand more since he only touched on it in class. Insects also play a part of vegetation control and keeping plant life in check, while at the other end of the scale, helping some plants reproduce through pollination.
In the human world, we tend to view insects as pests, something I already knew, but apparently we also use them for other things such as medicinal purposes. While insects do create competition for food in the occupation of crops and sometimes in our homes, and they can also be disease vectors of deadly things like malaria, insects do have positive impacts on the human world, ones we tend to overlook, and some slightly shocking as well. Apparently, we use insects to control other invasive pests who become problems in cases such as the loss of a natural predator in an area. Insects are also nutritious, although for me the jury’s still out on whether they actually taste good. I have heard of other cultures eating them though. On a side note, what makes them so nutritious? Are all insects okay to eat or are they like plants in the nature of edibility? We also use things like maggots (completely surprising to me) to treat wounds and their extract to make allantoin, a type of medicine.
On the subject of beetles, they have wings that conserve water, called Elitra (sp?), they are nocturnal, and apparently make up 1/5 of all animal species diversity. This is kind of funny as I hardly ever notice beetles, but I suppose it makes sense looking at the times they are more active. He also mentioned another reason we don’t see them as much is because they do most of their interaction with the environment in the immature stage (grubs), and their adult life is short, kind of like the life of a caterpillar. This makes sense, since they become more conspicuous as adults and if all they need to do is reproduce in this time they should spend as little time above ground as possible.
I also didn’t know that butterflies are actually moths adapted to day flight, and the ancestors of bees are wasps. We discussed how unlike wasps, bees are fuzzy because they pollinate partially by getting pollen all over them and then grooming it off. They have also evolved tightly with plants due to the reciprocal need of the plant and pollinator. Someone asked how the queen bee gets chosen in a hive, a question I’d been puzzled about as well. Apparently, certain eggs get a supercharged diet that helps develop their sexual organs, and these bees become queens. But how do the other bees know who she is? And is the egg chosen at random? We later got to look at the cross section of a hive and distinguish all the drones, workers and the queen, very interesting, and it amazes me that the bees can still live under these conditions. He did point out, however, that the native bees are going extinct, partly because they are so sensitive to toxins in the air called neonicotinoids, and also due to the introduction of a similar European honeybee. In fact, these smaller, “Africanized” wild bees are now essentially dependent on their keepers for survival, thought they are the most efficient pollinators for many crops.
On the subject of the queen, she apparently lays about 1egg/minute and apprx. ½ million eggs before she dies. This is crazy! Then again I suppose it makes sense in terms of furthering one’s genes. If you can stay in the hive and lay eggs and be fully protected all your life, there is a good chance your genes will be projected into the future. Perhaps there is another reason for their structure of life, but I’m not sure yet. Also, the queen bee only has one mating episode in her whole life, a 2-3 day period of flight where she goes and mates with males from other colonies. Incredibly, this provides her with enough sperm to lay those ½ million eggs. Further, I asked who she mates with. According to the bee guy, she can detect the odor of her own drones, though he wasn’t completely sure.
He also said that bee stings can be used to alleviate symptoms of arthritis, because they activate the immune system. To me this sounded similar to acupuncture, but he said something different is actually happening.
Also, the honeybees we were looking at manage to keep the hive at a temperature of 93-96 degrees Fahrenheit which is extremely warm for all those little guys. This temperature, in combination with the fact that they can take sugar droplets in mandibles and fan them with their wings to cause evaporation, allows them to produce honey. The temperature also means these bees don’t have to migrate in the winter, unlike solitary bees who do not have this capability of keeping the hive warm enough to survive. Are bumblebees solitary bees? I would think so, but they build their nests in pre-existing rodent holes, and I’m wondering if this changes the need to worry about temperature, or whether bumblebees are similar to honeybees in the way they nest.
Evan also pointed out that male bees never sting, because the stinger is a reproductive device of the female related to egg laying and defense of her nest. If a nest gets too crowded, the bees will swarm, and the hive undergoes a fission in which you get two colonies out of one.
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