The Triassic is old. This book is new. That is a hard to beat combination.
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Tag Archives: Insects
Scientific Research shows that a mystery pheromone may create zombies
Wasps, hornets, and other Hymenoptera may live nearly solitary lives, live in huge colonies, or something in between. The European hornet, Vespa crabro, lives in a colony consisting of one queen mated to a single male. In Hymenoptera, females are typically diploid (having genes from both parents) while males are typically haploid (having genes only from the female parent). If you draw a diagram of this and stare at it for a long time, you may come to the same conclusions that Bill “Buzz Off” Hamilton came to several years ago. A female would benefit genetically from helping her mother raise more sisters to a greater extent than she would benefit from having her own offspring, because she will be related to her sisters by 75% but to her offspring by 50%. Depending on other conditions, of course.
Continue reading Scientific Research shows that a mystery pheromone may create zombies
Monarch butterflies in the classroom
Continuing with our discussion of the Evolution 2008 conference …Karen Oberhauser talked about the “single species” approach to pedagogy. This involves focusing on a single species and using it throughout an entire course. Karen has taught classes on this approach for teachers’ professional development programs.The species she uses is the Monarch Butterfly.
Karen is a world class expert on this insect, and runs a major research project with them.The idea of a single-species approach is that a student learns a great deal about one particular species, to the extent that this species becomes an organizing theme as well as a kind of living mnemonic device for all that is learned throughout the course. The individual seemingly disconnected aspects of biology and ecology can become seemingly connected by referring back to a single species. If there is something that this one species does not give you that you need to use in your class, there is almost alwasy a way to work it in. Continue reading Monarch butterflies in the classroom