For the past 3 years, I had the exciting opportunity to work as part of the Horizon2020 funded project nEUROSTRESSPEP which aimed to develop environmentally-friendly biopesticides. Based on insect peptide hormones, these novel insecticidal agents are target-specific and therefore not harmful to the environment or beneficial insects such as bees. You can read the results in brief here.
11 Comments
Professor Timothy Schowalter argues that a better understanding of insect contributions to ecosystem services will improve our ability to sustain delivery of ecosystem services. Read full article here.
I am delighted to have been awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship to carry out research at the Université de Rennes 1 in France. The research, in collaboration with Professor Joan van Baaren and Global cosmetics company Yves Rocher, will investigate potential synergistic and antagonistic relationships between ecosystem services. Industrial partner Yves Rocher, who are constantly seeking to improve their production system and develop sustainable biodiversity management, devote 100% of their industrial sites as biodiversity refuges. The research aims to elucidate how we may utilise functional agricultural biodiversity to optimise ecosystem service provision and function at the landscape scale.
In the latest MCSB podcast, I had the pleasure of talking to Chief Technician Paul Paterson to learn more about his successful career as a technician at the University of Glasgow. He provides insightful advice to those wishing to pursue a technical career in science, discusses his views on the Technician Commitment and shares his passion for football.
It is always exciting to develop new skills and expand your research in new directions. During my time at the University of Glasgow, I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to try my hand at confocal microscopy. As someone who came very close to pursuing a career in art instead of science, I found confocal microscopy a great way to combine my love of both science and art. I view the resultant images as beautiful pieces of artwork. In my latest paper recently accepted in Pest Management Science, I use confocal microscopy to map neuropeptide binding within the aphids. Who knows, maybe one day I will hang this image alongside the Schieles and Basquiats.
In my experience, two types of scientists exist; those who persist in a state of complete chaos and share their bench space with mounds of empty pipette tip boxes, teetering towers of printed manuscripts, broken computers and the odd sombrero (Pablo, I am talking to you!). And then there are others who seem incapable of making it through the day without a detailed to-do list and would turn pale at finding even a paper clip out of place. I am definitely the latter. I like things neat. I have therefore decided to move my research blog to this website so that everything is under one virtual roof. However, should anyone wish to access my old Tumblr research blog, you can do so here.
Choice of aphid host does not impact the cold tolerance of the emerging parasitoid
For aphid parasitoids, the aphid host represents the sole source of nutrients for the developing immature. Because of this, host quality is an important factor affecting immature development and is known to affect a variety of life history traits including fecundity, longevity and offspring sex ratio. Interestingly, the study found no effect of aphid host species on the cold tolerance of the emerging parasitoid. It is possible that host manipulation by the immature parasitoid may help to influence the temperatures experienced during development, therefore removing any effect of aphid host on parasitoid cold tolerance. Read more here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2017.10.008 Pest insects and their predators may respond differently to landscape and climate change
Landscape complexity significantly alters the local microclimate and the temperature tolerance of aphid pests. Intensively farmed ‘homogenous’ landscapes were found to be warmer, on average, but with greater temperature fluctuations. Aphids originating from simplified landscapes were found to have a reduced tolerance to cold temperatures. The study highlights that future changes to land use could have implications for the temperature tolerance and adaptability of insects. Furthermore, not all insect species respond in a similar way to changes in microhabitat and microclimate. This could disrupt important predator–prey relationships and the ecosystem service they provide. Read more here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.12460 Parasitoids may manipulate the behaviour of their host to help survive cold temperatures
During parasitoid development, the immature parasitoid is confined to the host and must therefore withstand the environmental conditions experienced by the aphid host. Interestingly, the study found that parasitized aphids displayed different behaviours to healthy aphids when exposed to unfavourable cold temperatures. It is possible that the parasitoid is manipulating aphid behaviour to avoid the unfavourable temperatures. Read more here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0168693 Laboratory measures of cold tolerance may be underestimating the true level of cold tolerance
Phloem-feeding insects such as aphids feed on the phloem sap of plants. This diet of phloem sap is high in sugars, which act as cryoprotectants, helping the insect to persist at low temperatures. However, measures commonly used to predict the cold tolerance of phloem-feeding insects are performed with the insect dethatched from the plant on which it would normally feed. For this reason, such measurements may be inadvertently underestimating the cold tolerance of the insect. Read more here. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.12410 |