In the absence of bees, flies are responsible for pollination in the Arctic region

Date:  October 9, 2018

Source:  University of Helsinki

Most of the fauna in the Arctic region take part in pollinating, yet during the busiest flowering weeks, there's a shortage of such services. A recent study indicates that the pollination services provided to plants and, thus, the plants' ability to produce seeds are dependent on the timing of the blooming season, and on how many other species are in bloom simultaneously.

Mikko Tiusanen, MSc, investigated in his doctoral dissertation the structure and functioning of plants and their pollinators in Arctic regions.

"Up north, there are very few Apidae, such as bees and bumblebees, so other insect groups bear the main responsibility for pollination," explains Tiusanen.

In his study, Tiusanen found that relatives of the ubiquitous housefly had a central role. These members of the Muscidae family are important pollinators, whose abundance impacts the seed production of northern plants.

The mountain avens hoards pollinators

Flowering in the Arctic occurs in the few weeks after the snow has melted. The subsequent profusion of flowers causes intensive competition for the pollination services provided by insects.

The abundant mountain avens with its attractive flowers hoards most of the pollinator visits, which leaves the pollination of rare and less attractive flowers particularly inadequate. At the height of mountain avens' blooming time, even their own seed production suffers from the competition for pollinators within the species itself.

Continued  

Flies enjoy having sex and will resort to alcohol if they can’t get it, scientists find

Unusual experiment could provide insights into addiction to rewarding substances

Josh Gabbatiss Science Correspondent 

The Independent Online

Sex – specifically ejaculation – is an enjoyable experience for male fruit flies, scientists have found, while demonstrating that the sex starved among them are more likely to consume alcohol in order to gain an alternative reward.

The unusual research not only demonstrated that enjoyment of ejaculation appears to be a fairly universal phenomenon, it could also be used to understand the biology of addiction.

"We wanted to know which part of the mating process entails the rewarding value for flies," said Dr Galit Shohat-Ophir of Bar-Ilan University in Israel, who co-authored the study.

"The actions that males perform during courtship? A female's pheromones? The last step of mating which is sperm and seminal fluid release?"

To determine what a fly does and does not find pleasurable, the scientists made use of so-called “optogenetic” tools.

This allows researchers to genetically engineer creatures with brain cells that can be essentially switched on and off using light.

Read on  

Flies more germ-laden than suspected

By Helen Briggs BBC News

24 November 2017

Scientists have discovered that flies carry more diseases than suspected.

The house fly and the blowfly together harbour more than 600 different bacteria, according to a DNA analysis.

Many are linked with human infections, including stomach bugs, blood poisoning and pneumonia.

Flies can spread bacteria from place-to-place on their legs, feet and wings, experiments show. In fact, every step taken by a fly can transfer live bacteria, researchers said.

''People had some notion that there were pathogens that were carried by flies but had no idea of the extent to which this is true and the extent to which they are transferred," Prof Donald Bryant of Penn State University, a co-researcher on the study, told BBC News.

Outbreaks

DNA sequencing techniques were used to study the collection of microbes found in and on the bodies of the house fly (Musca domestica) and the blowfly (Chrysomya megacephala).

The house fly, which is ubiquitous around the world, was found to harbour 351 types of bacteria. The blowfly, which is found in warmer climates, carried 316. A large number of these bacteria were carried by both types of fly.

Continued  

One fly to rule them all: Flies are the key pollinators of the High Arctic

Date: September 28, 2016

Source: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

Forget the view of the Arctic as an icy desert devoid of life. The Arctic summer is buzzing with insects -- and here as everywhere else, plants rely on them for pollination. But who are the insects driving the pollination services across the Arctic? A new study finds the biggest heroes among the most modest of animals: small flies related to our common house fly. This finding offers cause for concern, as arctic fly abundances are declining as the Arctic continues to warm.

Some flies are more important than others

Researchers from Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Canada have focused on a single but common arctic plant: the mountain avens (Dryas). They first recorded what insects visited the flowers of avens at 15 sites in northeast Greenland, then returned to score the seed set of these flowers. The results were clear: the more of the house fly -like flies (family Muscidae) that were present, the more flowers set seed. And even among these flies, a single super-hero emerged: what best explained seed set was the abundance of a single fly, Spilogona sanctipauli.

A new use for fly paper

To record the insects visiting a plant, the researchers invented a new solution. "Instead of staring on flowers for hours, waiting to see who sat down on them, we constructed self-trapping flowers," explains Mikko Tiusanen, lead author of the study. "For this, we used something very similar to fly paper -- the sticky traps used to catch e.g. insect pest in green houses. In our case, we cut this sticky paper into natural-looking flowers, and hid them among the real flowers."

Read more

The city of angels and flies: 12 unknown scuttle fly species have been flying around L.A.

Date: April 14, 2016

Source: Pensoft Publishers

Although the second-largest and rather concrete metropolis in the United States might not be anywhere near one's immediate association for a biodiversity hotspot, the fly fauna of Los Angeles is quite impressive. As part of BioSCAN, a project devoted to exploring the insect diversity in and around the city, a team of three entomologists report on their latest discovery -- twelve new scuttle fly species. Their study is published in the open access Biodiversity Data Journal.

Launched in 2013, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County's project BioSCAN seems to never cease to amaze with large numbers of newly discovered species. The first phase of the study finished with 30 species of flies new to science from sites in 27 backyards, 1 community garden, the Los Angeles Ecovillage, and the Nature Gardens at the Museum. In recognition to the residents, who had literally let the scientists in their homes, each of those flies was named after the relevant site's host.

Continued ...

Quick getaway: How flies escape a looming predator

Date:

June 8, 2014

Source:

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

Summary:

Every millisecond counts when a fruit fly is being hunted by a damselfly. Scientists find that fruit flies can deploy two escape behaviors, depending on circumstances. New research reveals how a quick-escape circuit in the fly's brain overrides the fly's slower, more controlled behavior when a threat becomes urgent.

Continued

Mind alteration device makes flies sing and dance

Date:

May 25, 2014

Source:

Research Institute of Molecular Pathology

Summary:

Scientists have developed a special device for the thermogenetic control of flies. This tool, called FlyMAD, enabled the scientists to target light or heat to specific body regions of flies in motion and to analyse the animals‘ brain cells. Compared to other techniques, FlyMAD allows highly improved temporal resolution. Using the new technology, scientists got new insight into the role of two neuronal cell types in courtship behavior of flies.

read more

Flies pause while 200 neurons help with tough decisions

By Jonathan WebbScience reporter, BBC News

Just like us, fruit flies dwell on difficult decisions, according to a study published in the journal Science.

They spend more time choosing between a strong and a weak smell if the difference is small.

The research links this deliberation to a particular gene, FoxP, and the activity of fewer than 200 neurons.

Mutations in FoxP, also associated with cognition and language in humans, made flies' decisions even slower without affecting which choice they made.

Gathering information before committing to a decision is a hallmark of intelligence. If the information is unclear, the choice is trickier and the decision takes more time.

We do it, other primates do it, even rats and mice do it - but now it seems that flies do too.

continued

Tiny weapons wage war on flies

TINY sensors glued to flies will help scientists deploy infiltrators to help protect the $6.9 billion horticultural industry.

The CSIRO has developed a sterile strain of male-only Queensland fruit flies to disrupt the insects' breeding cycles. Each could prevent countless females from breeding because female fruit flies -- unlike the males -- mate only once. The approach, known as sterile insect technology, has been used against fruit flies for 50 years but the national science agency plans to unleash the first flies sterilised by genetic engineering rather than radiation, which hinders them from competing for females.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/tiny-weapons-wage-war-on-flies/story-e6frgcjx-1226860607489#

Laser beam makes flies flirt

A flipped mental switch is all it takes to make a fly fall in love — even if its object of desire is a ball of wax. A technique called thermogenetics allows researchers to control fly behaviour by activating specific neurons with heat. Combining the system with techniques that use light to trigger neurons could help to elucidate how different neural circuits work together to control complex behaviours such as courtship.

Optogenetics — triggering neurons with light — has been successful in mice but has not been pursued much in flies, says Barry Dickson, a neuroscientist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia. A fibre-optic cable embedded in a mouse’s brain can deliver light to cells genetically engineered to make light-activated proteins, but flies are too small for these fibre optics. Neither will these cells be activated when the flies are put into an illuminated box, because most wavelengths of visible light cannot penetrate a fly’s exoskeleton.

Read more

Learned Helplessness in Flies and the Roots of Depression

Apr. 18, 2013 — When faced with impossible circumstances beyond their control, animals, including humans, often hunker down as they develop sleep or eating disorders, ulcers, and other physical manifestations of depression. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 18 show that the same kind of thing happens to flies.

The study is a step toward understanding the biological basis for depression and presents a new way for testing antidepressant drugs, the researchers say. The discovery of such symptoms in an insect shows that the roots of depression are very deep indeed.

"Depressions are so devastating because they go back to such a basic property of behavior," says Martin Heisenberg of the Rudolf Virchow Center in Würzburg, Germany.

Heisenberg says that the idea for the study came out of a lengthy discussion with a colleague about how to ask whether flies can feel fear. Franco Bertolucci, a coauthor on the study, had found that flies can rapidly learn to suppress innate behaviors, a phenomenon that is part of learned helplessness.

The researchers now show that flies experiencing uncomfortable levels of heat will walk to escape it. But if the flies realize that the heat is beyond their control and can't be avoided, they will stop responding, walking more slowly and taking longer and more frequent rests, as if they were "depressed."

Intriguingly, female flies slow down more under those stressful circumstances than males do. It's not clear exactly what that means, but Heisenberg explains, "if we realize that the fly trapped in a strange, dark box, unable to get rid of the dangerous heat pulses, has to find a compromise between saving energy and not missing any chance of escape, we can understand that such a compromise may come out differently for males and females, as their resources and goals in life are different."

Heisenberg's team now intends to explore other questions, such as: How long does the flies' depression-like state last? How does it affect other behaviors, like courtship and aggression? What is happening in their brain? And more.

Heisenberg says that the findings are a reminder of a lesson that children's books are often best at showing: "Animals have lots in common with us humans. They breathe the same air, share many of the same resources, actively explore space, and have distinct social roles. Their brains serve the same purpose, too: they help them to do the right thing."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130418124858.htm

'Strikingly Similar' Brains of Human and Fly May Aid Mental Health Research

Apr. 11, 2013 — A new study by scientists at King's College London and the University of Arizona (UA) published in Science reveals the deep similarities in how the brain regulates behaviour in arthropods (such as flies and crabs) and vertebrates (such as fish, mice and humans). The findings shed new light on the evolution of the brain and behaviour and may aid understanding of disease mechanisms underlying mental health problems.

Based on their own findings and available literature, Dr Frank Hirth (King's) and Dr Nicholas Strausfeld (UA) compared the development and function of the central brain regions in arthropods (the 'central complex') and vertebrates (the 'basal ganglia').

Research suggests that both brain structures derive from embryonic stem cells at the base of the developing forebrain and that, despite the major differences between species, their respective constitutions and specifications derive from similar genetic programmes.

The authors describe that nerve cells in the central complex and the basal ganglia become inter-connected and communicate with each other in similar ways, facilitating the regulation of adaptive behaviours. In other words, the response of a fly or a mouse to internal stimuli such as hunger or sleep, and external stimuli such as light/dark or temperature, are regulated by similar neural mechanisms.

Dr Hirth from King's College London Institute of Psychiatry says: "Flies, crabs, mice, humans: all experience hunger, need sleep and have a preference for a comfortable temperature so we speculated there must be a similar mechanism regulating these behaviours. We were amazed to find just how deep the similarities go, despite the differences in size and appearance of these species and their brains."

Dr Strausfeld, a Regents Professor in the UA's Department of Neuroscience and the Director of the UA's Center for Insect Science, says: "When you compare the two structures, you find that they are very similar in terms of how they're organized. Their development is orchestrated by a whole suite of genes that are homologous between flies and mice, and the behavioral deficits resulting from disturbances in the two systems are remarkably similar as well."

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130411142933.htm

Caught in the Act: Bats Use the Sound of Copulating Flies as a Cue for Foraging

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2012) — Mating activities are a dangerous business because the attention to other important events in the surroundings is often reduced. Therefore the duration of copulation itself is usually very short. About 100 years ago researchers argued that copulating animals are at a higher risk of being discovered and, consequently, being eaten by a predator. Yet, surprisingly, there are only few observations that support this hypothesis. These examples comprise studies in water-living insects, such as amphipods and water striders, and also in land insects, as investigated in a recent study in Australian plague locusts that are at a higher risk of being eaten as mating pairs compared to single animals.

Apart from decreased attention, a reduced flight response as well as an enhanced conspicuousness induces a higher risk for these winged lovers to be easy prey. Stefan Greif from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, and colleagues, have now provided experimental proof for this phenomenon. In a community of house flies and Natterer's bats in a cowshed near Marburg, Germany, they analysed videotapes of the movements of almost 9000 flies. The researchers found that the flies rarely fly at night and mostly sit or run on the ceiling. Finding the flies by echolocation is nearly impossible for the bats as the faint insect echo is completely masked by the strong background echo which makes them virtually "invisible."

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120723134525.htm

After the girl's nostril leech: More nasty animals found in the body

RIGHT: A hookworm: They infect 600 million people worldwide

Ted Thornhill - 16th April, 2010

You've seen the horror that is the leech named T Rex who gets into girls' nostrils. Now prepare to see even more nasty things that live inside humans...

Hookworm
An infestation of hookworm can cause nasty blisters and lesions on the skin. You might also get a fever and vomit a lot. It's really not pleasant - and they infect over 500 million people a year.

Candiru
The candiru – or toothpick fish – is a native to the Amazon River in Brazil and has a vicious way of feeding. Attracted by chemicals emitted from the gills of fish it preys upon, the candiru – which can grow to 15cm – sneaks into the gills and uses two spikes in its head to hook itself in place. Then it sucks the blood of its victim. It poses little danger to humans – unless you pee in the river. The candiru is thought to be attracted to our urine and there was a case in 1997 when someone got one of these spiky beasts lodged somewhere rather sensitive...


Human Botfly
These nasty little critters capture mosquitoes, drop their eggs on them, then let the mozzies go to work. When they bite, the eggs go in through the hole and grow under the skin – for eight weeks. Then the 2cm long larva fall out and hatch into botflies.

See the video of a larva being removed from someone's back. If you can stomach it!


Whipworm
These can grow to 31cm in length – in your stomach! And sometimes they try to get out through your nose or mouth. Infection is often caused by eating beans or rice containing eggs, or through soil contaminated with human feces.

The fish tapeworm
Like something out of a horror film – and a particularly horrific horror film at that – the fish tapeworm can grow to 30 feet. Inside you. You can be infected by eating raw or undercooked fish – and the tapeworm can be found wherever bears or other fish-eating mammals, including humans, defecate. You'll know you've got one because you'll be constantly hungry, as the tapeworm is eating all the food!

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/822082-after-the-girls-nostril-leech-more-nasty-animals-found-in-the-body

Bitten by the art bug

Click to enlarge

http://e-edition.metroireland.ie/2010/02/18/