PITTSBURGH — Bedbugs aren't just sleeping with you. They're sleeping with each other.
Researchers now say that the creepy bugs have a special genetic gift: withstanding incest.
It turns out that unlike most creatures, bedbugs are able to inbreed with close relatives and still produce generally healthy offspring. That means that if just a few bedbugs survive in a building after treatment, they repopulate quickly.
Coby Schal and Ed Vargo are entomologists at North Carolina State University, and they presented preliminary research on genetic diversity in bedbug populations on Tuesday in Philadelphia, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
"We kept discovering the same thing. Within a given apartment, or even a given building, there was extremely low genetic diversity," said Schal. "In most cases there's just a single female that founded the population."
Schal said that was a surprise, since an animal or insect population with limited diversity will usually build up and then crash, because genetic defects tend to magnify with inbreeding.
"But somehow bedbugs are able to able to withstand the effects of inbreeding, and do quite well," he said.
The new research is important, said Zachary Adelman, an entomologist at Virginia Tech University who wasn't part of the North Carolina State team.
"No one had looked at these things," he said of the genetic makeup of bedbugs. "It's pretty exciting."
And pretty depressing.
The researchers also found that while the community within a building tends to be similar, there are many different strains of bedbugs throughout the East Coast, suggesting that new colonies also get introduced through foreign travel or commerce
Read more here ...
Showing posts with label inbreeding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inbreeding. Show all posts
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Scientists might have explained promiscuous behaviour
Scientists have shown that inbreeding can lead to female promiscuity.
The team, which reports its findings in the journal Science, witnessed a change in mating behaviour when they bred female flour beetles with their close relatives.
The researchers suspect that promiscuous females are avoiding the ill-effects of inbreeding by exposing themselves to a larger pool of sperm.
The results help explain why females of some species mate with several males.
For females, sex can be traumatic. In some insects, insemination involves wounding females and infecting them with dangerous microbes. In many other species, mating reduces females' lifespans.
Given that in most species, a single mating is generally enough to fertilise all a female's eggs, she has little incentive to mate again. And yet in many species, females mate multiple times with different males.
The new results help evolutionary biologists explain this perplexing phenomenon.
Driving extinction
By driving a population of flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum, to the brink of extinction, and then allowing their numbers to recover from a few individuals, the researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) created highly inbred populations.
The researchers found that females in these inbred populations were more eager to mate than those that had not been forced through a bottleneck.
Attempting to explain why unbridled mating was on the increase, the researchers went on to show that inbred females left twice as many descendents as those that mated with just one male.
"It is quite easy to imagine how promiscuity could spread through the population if [promiscuous females] leave more descendents," explained UEA evolutionary biologist Matthew Gage.
When a population is inbred, the chances of mating with a genetically similar male are heightened, so hedging your bets and mating with more suitors is a sensible strategy, he explained.
Dr Gage suspects that promiscuous females amass a large pool of sperm, and select ones that are more genetically dissimilar to them to fertilise their eggs. Mating with more males gives females a larger range of sperm from which to select.
However, Dr Gage warned that he and his colleagues might not have witnessed "the evolution" of a new mating behaviour.
Rather than changing genetically, he explained, the females might simply have been adjusting their behaviour to their new environmental conditions.
Dr Gage and his team are now looking into this.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15002277
Smells May Help Birds Find Their Homes, Avoid Inbreeding; Research May Bring Help to Endangered Species
ScienceDaily (Sep. 22, 2011) — Birds may have a more highly developed sense of smell than researchers previously thought, contend scholars who have found that penguins may use smell to determine if they are related to a potential mate.The research by the University of Chicago and the Chicago Zoological Society, which manages Brookfield Zoo, shows how related birds are able to recognize each other. The study, published Sept. 21 in the journal PLoS ONE, could help conservationists design programs to help preserve endangered species.
"Smell is likely the primary mechanism for kin recognition to avoid inbreeding within the colony," said Heather Coffin, lead author of the paper.
Coffin conducted the research while a graduate student at UChicago and was joined in writing the paper by Jill Mateo, associate professor in Comparative Human Development at UChicago, and Jason Watters, director of animal behavior research for the Chicago Zoological Society.
"This is the first study to provide evidence for odor-based kin discrimination in birds," said Mateo, who is a specialist on kin recognition.
Experts said the work offers important insights into how birds use smell to guide behavior.
"The work by the research group is truly groundbreaking in that it shows for the first time ever in birds how the olfactory sense of captive penguins is both informative and functional in a behaviorally critical context: namely the recognition of friends from foes in general, and relatives from non-relatives in particular," said Mark E. Hauber, professor of psychology at Hunter College, a specialist on bird social recognition.
Penguins are ideal subjects because they typically live in colonies made up of thousands of birds. They live in monogamous pairs -- an arrangement that facilitates rearing of their young, since parents frequently take turns leaving the nest to gather food. Despite the size of the community, mates are able to find each other after traveling for days foraging for food in the ocean.
Research on other sea birds has shown that smell helps guide birds to their home territory and helps them forage for food. Other research has shown that birds could use sound and sight to recognize each other, but no other studies have shown that smell might be used in connection with kin recognition, Mateo said.
In the study conducted at Brookfield Zoo, researchers first sought to determine if the penguins were able to recognize familiar individuals by smell. They constructed an experiment using a dozen penguins, from a group that included breeding pairs, their offspring and nonbreeding individuals. The birds -- all Humboldt penguins -- endangered natives of Peru -- were from groups either on exhibit or off exhibit.
The zoo is an ideal setting for the research, as it has extensive records on which penguins are related and have been housed together, Watters said.
Researchers took odor samples from glands near the penguins' tails, where an oil that the birds use for preening is secreted. They put the oil on cotton swabs and rubbed the odor inside dog kennels, similar to the enclosures penguins at a zoo use for their nests. They also put the odor on paper coffee filters and placed them under mats inside the kennels.
When the penguins were released to the area containing the kennels, the researchers found that penguins spent more time in the kennels with familiar odors. The penguins were able to distinguish between the odors of birds they spent time with and the odors of unfamiliar penguins.
"What I found particularly notable about the study was that the authors identified the oil secreted from the penguins' preen gland, which is rubbed on the feathers to make them water repellent, as the odor source used in recognition," said Bryan D. Neff, professor and associate chair of biology, University of Western Ontario and an expert on kin recognition. "Oils are used in kin recognition by species of other animals, most notably a variety of insect species, including bees and wasps, which when considered with the penguin data provide a wonderful example of convergent evolution."
"It's important for birds that live in large groups in the wild, like penguins, to know who their neighbors are so that they can find their nesting areas and also, through experience, know how to get along with the birds nearby," Watters said.
Because offspring usually return to the same colony for nesting, siblings have the potential of becoming mates, something that can be avoided by their smell mechanism, the new research shows.
Researchers also found that when the birds were exposed to the odors of unfamiliar kin and unfamiliar non-kin, they spent more time in the kennels with odors of unfamiliar non-kin, indicating they were probably able to determine by smell which animals they were related to and were more curious about the novel odors. Being able to make the distinction may help the penguins avoid mating with kin, researchers said. The discovery also could assist zoos in managing their breeding programs.
"It could also be true that birds may be able to help zoo 'matchmakers' in determining potential mates," Watters said.
The ability of birds to be able to recognize familiar scents and thus be guided to their home territory also has potential value to naturalists, he said.
"You could imagine that if you were trying to reintroduce birds to an area, you could first treat the area with an odor the birds were familiar with. That would make them more likely to stay."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110921172834.htm
"Smell is likely the primary mechanism for kin recognition to avoid inbreeding within the colony," said Heather Coffin, lead author of the paper.
Coffin conducted the research while a graduate student at UChicago and was joined in writing the paper by Jill Mateo, associate professor in Comparative Human Development at UChicago, and Jason Watters, director of animal behavior research for the Chicago Zoological Society.
"This is the first study to provide evidence for odor-based kin discrimination in birds," said Mateo, who is a specialist on kin recognition.
Experts said the work offers important insights into how birds use smell to guide behavior.
"The work by the research group is truly groundbreaking in that it shows for the first time ever in birds how the olfactory sense of captive penguins is both informative and functional in a behaviorally critical context: namely the recognition of friends from foes in general, and relatives from non-relatives in particular," said Mark E. Hauber, professor of psychology at Hunter College, a specialist on bird social recognition.
Penguins are ideal subjects because they typically live in colonies made up of thousands of birds. They live in monogamous pairs -- an arrangement that facilitates rearing of their young, since parents frequently take turns leaving the nest to gather food. Despite the size of the community, mates are able to find each other after traveling for days foraging for food in the ocean.
Research on other sea birds has shown that smell helps guide birds to their home territory and helps them forage for food. Other research has shown that birds could use sound and sight to recognize each other, but no other studies have shown that smell might be used in connection with kin recognition, Mateo said.
In the study conducted at Brookfield Zoo, researchers first sought to determine if the penguins were able to recognize familiar individuals by smell. They constructed an experiment using a dozen penguins, from a group that included breeding pairs, their offspring and nonbreeding individuals. The birds -- all Humboldt penguins -- endangered natives of Peru -- were from groups either on exhibit or off exhibit.
The zoo is an ideal setting for the research, as it has extensive records on which penguins are related and have been housed together, Watters said.
Researchers took odor samples from glands near the penguins' tails, where an oil that the birds use for preening is secreted. They put the oil on cotton swabs and rubbed the odor inside dog kennels, similar to the enclosures penguins at a zoo use for their nests. They also put the odor on paper coffee filters and placed them under mats inside the kennels.
When the penguins were released to the area containing the kennels, the researchers found that penguins spent more time in the kennels with familiar odors. The penguins were able to distinguish between the odors of birds they spent time with and the odors of unfamiliar penguins.
"What I found particularly notable about the study was that the authors identified the oil secreted from the penguins' preen gland, which is rubbed on the feathers to make them water repellent, as the odor source used in recognition," said Bryan D. Neff, professor and associate chair of biology, University of Western Ontario and an expert on kin recognition. "Oils are used in kin recognition by species of other animals, most notably a variety of insect species, including bees and wasps, which when considered with the penguin data provide a wonderful example of convergent evolution."
"It's important for birds that live in large groups in the wild, like penguins, to know who their neighbors are so that they can find their nesting areas and also, through experience, know how to get along with the birds nearby," Watters said.
Because offspring usually return to the same colony for nesting, siblings have the potential of becoming mates, something that can be avoided by their smell mechanism, the new research shows.
Researchers also found that when the birds were exposed to the odors of unfamiliar kin and unfamiliar non-kin, they spent more time in the kennels with odors of unfamiliar non-kin, indicating they were probably able to determine by smell which animals they were related to and were more curious about the novel odors. Being able to make the distinction may help the penguins avoid mating with kin, researchers said. The discovery also could assist zoos in managing their breeding programs.
"It could also be true that birds may be able to help zoo 'matchmakers' in determining potential mates," Watters said.
The ability of birds to be able to recognize familiar scents and thus be guided to their home territory also has potential value to naturalists, he said.
"You could imagine that if you were trying to reintroduce birds to an area, you could first treat the area with an odor the birds were familiar with. That would make them more likely to stay."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110921172834.htm
Monday, July 25, 2011
Paternity Testing Helps Fill in Family Tree for Puget Sound's Killer Whales: Inbreeding Could Reduce Whales' Genetic Diversity
ScienceDaily (July 21, 2011) — In a study published online this month in the Journal of Heredity, NOAA researchers and others, using DNA testing to fill in a missing link in the lives of killer whales that seasonally visit Washington's Puget Sound, have discovered that some of the progeny they studied were the result of matings within the same social subgroups, or pods, that are part of the overall population.
One implication of this inbreeding behavior is a significant reduction in the genetic diversity of what is already a perilously small population of animals, formally known as Southern Resident killer whales. That population numbers only about 85 animals and was listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2005.
Southern resident killer whales, which also visit the waters of British Columbia and are occasionally found as far south as Monterey Bay, Calif., consist of three pods called J, K and L pod. Inter-pod mating has never been detected in studies of Northern Resident killer whales, which range from Washington to southern Alaska, and until now researchers assumed that Southern Residents exhibited similar mating patterns. The two populations are distinct and do not socialize with each other.
The study, titled "Inferred paternity and male reproductive success in a killer whale (Orcinus orca) population," involved researchers from NOAA's Fisheries Service, the University of Washington, Cascadia Research Collective and the Center for Whale Research.
"We were surprised that, in many cases, the father was from the same pod as the mother. Based on earlier studies, we didn't think killer whales mated within their own pod," said Dr. Michael Ford, lead author of the study and a scientist with NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.
"This behavior may be unique to the Southern Resident population, perhaps related to the population's small size," Ford added.
The researchers analyzed 78 individuals for 26 different genetic markers, or DNA fingerprints, and inferred the paternity for 15 mother-calf pairs. The study found no evidence that Southern Residents mate outside their population, but clear evidence that they do sometimes mate with members of their own pod.
"Even though some of the fathers were in the same pod as the mothers, none of them were really closely related to each other. Our results suggest that Southern Residents avoid mating with their siblings or parents, but we aren't really sure of the social process that results in this avoidance," Ford said.
Compared to many mammalian species, males within the Southern Resident community were also found to have a relatively low variance of reproductive success, meaning several males are responsible for offspring production in the population rather than just one or two. This contrasts with some other marine mammals like elephant seals, where a handful of males completely dominate the breeding and may reflect the difficulty male killer whales have in controlling other males' access to females.
However, the study also revealed that the older and larger males appeared to be responsible for most of the successful matings, indicating that females may choose to mate only with older males, or possibly that older males may prevent the younger males from breeding successfully.
Ford said he and his colleagues are particularly worried about the group's lack of genetic diversity, which he characterized as a "bottleneck." "Since this population remains isolated from other killer whale populations, mating within pods puts Southern Residents at risk of genetically deteriorating further from a potential increase in inbreeding or harmful mutations," he said.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110721131206.htm
One implication of this inbreeding behavior is a significant reduction in the genetic diversity of what is already a perilously small population of animals, formally known as Southern Resident killer whales. That population numbers only about 85 animals and was listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2005.
Southern resident killer whales, which also visit the waters of British Columbia and are occasionally found as far south as Monterey Bay, Calif., consist of three pods called J, K and L pod. Inter-pod mating has never been detected in studies of Northern Resident killer whales, which range from Washington to southern Alaska, and until now researchers assumed that Southern Residents exhibited similar mating patterns. The two populations are distinct and do not socialize with each other.
The study, titled "Inferred paternity and male reproductive success in a killer whale (Orcinus orca) population," involved researchers from NOAA's Fisheries Service, the University of Washington, Cascadia Research Collective and the Center for Whale Research.
"We were surprised that, in many cases, the father was from the same pod as the mother. Based on earlier studies, we didn't think killer whales mated within their own pod," said Dr. Michael Ford, lead author of the study and a scientist with NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.
"This behavior may be unique to the Southern Resident population, perhaps related to the population's small size," Ford added.
The researchers analyzed 78 individuals for 26 different genetic markers, or DNA fingerprints, and inferred the paternity for 15 mother-calf pairs. The study found no evidence that Southern Residents mate outside their population, but clear evidence that they do sometimes mate with members of their own pod.
"Even though some of the fathers were in the same pod as the mothers, none of them were really closely related to each other. Our results suggest that Southern Residents avoid mating with their siblings or parents, but we aren't really sure of the social process that results in this avoidance," Ford said.
Compared to many mammalian species, males within the Southern Resident community were also found to have a relatively low variance of reproductive success, meaning several males are responsible for offspring production in the population rather than just one or two. This contrasts with some other marine mammals like elephant seals, where a handful of males completely dominate the breeding and may reflect the difficulty male killer whales have in controlling other males' access to females.
However, the study also revealed that the older and larger males appeared to be responsible for most of the successful matings, indicating that females may choose to mate only with older males, or possibly that older males may prevent the younger males from breeding successfully.
Ford said he and his colleagues are particularly worried about the group's lack of genetic diversity, which he characterized as a "bottleneck." "Since this population remains isolated from other killer whale populations, mating within pods puts Southern Residents at risk of genetically deteriorating further from a potential increase in inbreeding or harmful mutations," he said.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110721131206.htm
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
US sees massive drop in bumble bees: study
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Weakened by inbreeding and disease, bumble bees have died off at an astonishing rate over the past 20 years, with some US populations diving more than 90 percent, according to a new study.
The findings are of concern because bees play a crucial role in pollinating crops such as tomatoes, peppers and berries, said the findings of a three-year study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Similar declines have also been seen in Europe and Asia, said Sydney Cameron, of the Department of Entomology and Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, the main author of the study.
"The decline of bumble bees in the US is associated with two things we were able to study: the pathogen Nosema bombi and a decline in genetic diversity. But we are not saying Nosema is the cause. We don't know," said Cameron.
"It's just an association. There may be other causes."
He added that the decline is "huge and recent," having taken place in the last two decades.
Nosema bombi is a bee pathogen that has also afflicted European bumble bees.
Researchers examined eight species of North American bumble bees and found that the "relative abundance of four species has dropped by more than 90 percent, suggesting die-offs further supported by shrinking geographic ranges," said the study.
"Compared with species of relatively stable population sizes, the dwindling bee species had low genetic diversity, potentially rendering them prone to pathogens and environmental pressures."
Their cousins, the honey bees, have also experienced catastrophic die-offs since 2006 in a phenomenon known as "colony collapse disorder," though the causes have yet to be fully determined.
Bumble bees also make honey, but it is used to feed the colony, not farmed for human consumption.
They are however raised in Europe for pollinating greenhouse vegetables in a multi-billion-dollar industry that has more recently taken off in Japan and Israel and is being developed in Mexico and China, Cameron said.
"We need to start to develop other bees for pollination beside honey bees, because they are suffering enormously," he added.
There are around 250 species of bumble bee, including 50 in the United States alone.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110104/ts_afp/usanimalagricultureresearch_20110104011323;_ylt=AjLRd8WnGrHkJH1uGeCbE6KFOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMzNDMwZnFwBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDEwNC91c2FuaW1hbGFncmljdWx0dXJlcmVzZWFyY2gEcG9zAzEwBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3Vzc2Vlc21hc3Npdg--
The findings are of concern because bees play a crucial role in pollinating crops such as tomatoes, peppers and berries, said the findings of a three-year study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Similar declines have also been seen in Europe and Asia, said Sydney Cameron, of the Department of Entomology and Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, the main author of the study.
"The decline of bumble bees in the US is associated with two things we were able to study: the pathogen Nosema bombi and a decline in genetic diversity. But we are not saying Nosema is the cause. We don't know," said Cameron.
"It's just an association. There may be other causes."
He added that the decline is "huge and recent," having taken place in the last two decades.
Nosema bombi is a bee pathogen that has also afflicted European bumble bees.
Researchers examined eight species of North American bumble bees and found that the "relative abundance of four species has dropped by more than 90 percent, suggesting die-offs further supported by shrinking geographic ranges," said the study.
"Compared with species of relatively stable population sizes, the dwindling bee species had low genetic diversity, potentially rendering them prone to pathogens and environmental pressures."
Their cousins, the honey bees, have also experienced catastrophic die-offs since 2006 in a phenomenon known as "colony collapse disorder," though the causes have yet to be fully determined.
Bumble bees also make honey, but it is used to feed the colony, not farmed for human consumption.
They are however raised in Europe for pollinating greenhouse vegetables in a multi-billion-dollar industry that has more recently taken off in Japan and Israel and is being developed in Mexico and China, Cameron said.
"We need to start to develop other bees for pollination beside honey bees, because they are suffering enormously," he added.
There are around 250 species of bumble bee, including 50 in the United States alone.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110104/ts_afp/usanimalagricultureresearch_20110104011323;_ylt=AjLRd8WnGrHkJH1uGeCbE6KFOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMzNDMwZnFwBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDEwNC91c2FuaW1hbGFncmljdWx0dXJlcmVzZWFyY2gEcG9zAzEwBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3Vzc2Vlc21hc3Npdg--
US sees massive drop in bumble bees: study
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Weakened by inbreeding and disease, bumble bees have died off at an astonishing rate over the past 20 years, with some US populations diving more than 90 percent, according to a new study.
The findings are of concern because bees play a crucial role in pollinating crops such as tomatoes, peppers and berries, said the findings of a three-year study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Similar declines have also been seen in Europe and Asia, said Sydney Cameron, of the Department of Entomology and Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, the main author of the study.
"The decline of bumble bees in the US is associated with two things we were able to study: the pathogen Nosema bombi and a decline in genetic diversity. But we are not saying Nosema is the cause. We don't know," said Cameron.
"It's just an association. There may be other causes."
He added that the decline is "huge and recent," having taken place in the last two decades.
Nosema bombi is a bee pathogen that has also afflicted European bumble bees.
Researchers examined eight species of North American bumble bees and found that the "relative abundance of four species has dropped by more than 90 percent, suggesting die-offs further supported by shrinking geographic ranges," said the study.
"Compared with species of relatively stable population sizes, the dwindling bee species had low genetic diversity, potentially rendering them prone to pathogens and environmental pressures."
Their cousins, the honey bees, have also experienced catastrophic die-offs since 2006 in a phenomenon known as "colony collapse disorder," though the causes have yet to be fully determined.
Bumble bees also make honey, but it is used to feed the colony, not farmed for human consumption.
They are however raised in Europe for pollinating greenhouse vegetables in a multi-billion-dollar industry that has more recently taken off in Japan and Israel and is being developed in Mexico and China, Cameron said.
"We need to start to develop other bees for pollination beside honey bees, because they are suffering enormously," he added.
There are around 250 species of bumble bee, including 50 in the United States alone.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110104/ts_afp/usanimalagricultureresearch_20110104011323;_ylt=AjLRd8WnGrHkJH1uGeCbE6KFOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMzNDMwZnFwBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDEwNC91c2FuaW1hbGFncmljdWx0dXJlcmVzZWFyY2gEcG9zAzEwBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3Vzc2Vlc21hc3Npdg--
The findings are of concern because bees play a crucial role in pollinating crops such as tomatoes, peppers and berries, said the findings of a three-year study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Similar declines have also been seen in Europe and Asia, said Sydney Cameron, of the Department of Entomology and Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, the main author of the study.
"The decline of bumble bees in the US is associated with two things we were able to study: the pathogen Nosema bombi and a decline in genetic diversity. But we are not saying Nosema is the cause. We don't know," said Cameron.
"It's just an association. There may be other causes."
He added that the decline is "huge and recent," having taken place in the last two decades.
Nosema bombi is a bee pathogen that has also afflicted European bumble bees.
Researchers examined eight species of North American bumble bees and found that the "relative abundance of four species has dropped by more than 90 percent, suggesting die-offs further supported by shrinking geographic ranges," said the study.
"Compared with species of relatively stable population sizes, the dwindling bee species had low genetic diversity, potentially rendering them prone to pathogens and environmental pressures."
Their cousins, the honey bees, have also experienced catastrophic die-offs since 2006 in a phenomenon known as "colony collapse disorder," though the causes have yet to be fully determined.
Bumble bees also make honey, but it is used to feed the colony, not farmed for human consumption.
They are however raised in Europe for pollinating greenhouse vegetables in a multi-billion-dollar industry that has more recently taken off in Japan and Israel and is being developed in Mexico and China, Cameron said.
"We need to start to develop other bees for pollination beside honey bees, because they are suffering enormously," he added.
There are around 250 species of bumble bee, including 50 in the United States alone.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110104/ts_afp/usanimalagricultureresearch_20110104011323;_ylt=AjLRd8WnGrHkJH1uGeCbE6KFOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMzNDMwZnFwBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDEwNC91c2FuaW1hbGFncmljdWx0dXJlcmVzZWFyY2gEcG9zAzEwBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA3Vzc2Vlc21hc3Npdg--
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Inbred bumblebees 'face extinction threat' (via Dawn Holloway)
Some of the UK's rarest bumblebees are at risk of becoming extinct as a result of inbreeding, research suggests.
The lack of genetic diversity is making the bees more vulnerable to a number of threats, including parasitic infection, say scientists in Scotland.
They warn that some populations of bees are becoming increasingly isolated as a result of habitat loss.
The findings are being presented at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting at the University of Leeds.
Lead researcher Penelope Whitehorn, a PhD student from Stirling University, said the study of moss carder bumblebees (Bombus muscorum) on nine Hebridean islands, off the west coast of Scotland, offered an important insight into the possible consequences of inbreeding.
"The genetic work had already been carried out on these bumblebees, so we knew that the smaller and more isolated populations were more inbred than the larger populations on the mainland," she told BBC News.
"And as it was an island system, it could work as a proxy for what could occur on the mainland if populations do become isolated from each other as a result of habitat fragmentation."
The study is believed to be the first of its kind to investigate inbreeding and immunity in wild bees.
Uncertain future
Ms Whitehorn found that, although the inbreeding did not seem to affect the bees' immune system directly, it did make the insects more susceptible to parasitic infection.
The study offered a good insight into the potential consequences for species found on the UK mainland Some of the UK's rarest bumblebees are at risk of becoming extinct as a result of inbreeding, research suggests.
The ideal habitat on the Hebridean islands offers the resident bee populations a fighting chance "We found that isolated island populations of the moss carder bumblebee with lower genetic diversity have an increased prevalence of the gut parasite Crithidia bombi," she explained.
"Our study suggests that as bumblebee populations lose genetic diversity the impact of parasitism will increase, which may increase the extinction risk of threatened populations."
She added that the populations of the bees on the islands were "quite healthy because the habitat was so good", but inbreeding did have a range of other consequences, such as the production of infertile males.
"If inbreeding occurs on mainland Britain, where the habitat is not so good, then species may well be threatened," Ms Whitehorn suggested.
Other studies of invertebrates have found other costs as a result of inbreeding, such as a loss of general fitness in the species in question.
Habitat loss is resulting in populations of bees becoming more and more isolated from their neighbours, effectively leaving them as island populations.
Ms Whitehorn cited the example of the short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus), which finally became nationally extinct in the late 1980s when a parasitic infection placed increased pressure on the remaining populations, which were already vulnerable as a result of fragmented habitats.
To date, recent attempts to re-introduce the population back into the UK from New Zealand - where it had been introduced from Britain in the late 19th Century, have not been successful.
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust said efforts to conserve bumblebees were vital as the creatures played a key role as pollinators, especially when it came to wild flowers and commercial crops.
The UK currently has 24 species of bumblebee, after seeing two species become nationally extinct in recent decades.
Of the remaining species, one quarter have been identified as being in need of conservation to prevent them from disappearing from the British landscape.
By Mark Kinver
Science and environment reporter, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11199779
The lack of genetic diversity is making the bees more vulnerable to a number of threats, including parasitic infection, say scientists in Scotland.
They warn that some populations of bees are becoming increasingly isolated as a result of habitat loss.
The findings are being presented at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting at the University of Leeds.
Lead researcher Penelope Whitehorn, a PhD student from Stirling University, said the study of moss carder bumblebees (Bombus muscorum) on nine Hebridean islands, off the west coast of Scotland, offered an important insight into the possible consequences of inbreeding.
"The genetic work had already been carried out on these bumblebees, so we knew that the smaller and more isolated populations were more inbred than the larger populations on the mainland," she told BBC News.
"And as it was an island system, it could work as a proxy for what could occur on the mainland if populations do become isolated from each other as a result of habitat fragmentation."
The study is believed to be the first of its kind to investigate inbreeding and immunity in wild bees.
Uncertain future
Ms Whitehorn found that, although the inbreeding did not seem to affect the bees' immune system directly, it did make the insects more susceptible to parasitic infection.
The study offered a good insight into the potential consequences for species found on the UK mainland Some of the UK's rarest bumblebees are at risk of becoming extinct as a result of inbreeding, research suggests.
The ideal habitat on the Hebridean islands offers the resident bee populations a fighting chance "We found that isolated island populations of the moss carder bumblebee with lower genetic diversity have an increased prevalence of the gut parasite Crithidia bombi," she explained.
"Our study suggests that as bumblebee populations lose genetic diversity the impact of parasitism will increase, which may increase the extinction risk of threatened populations."
She added that the populations of the bees on the islands were "quite healthy because the habitat was so good", but inbreeding did have a range of other consequences, such as the production of infertile males.
"If inbreeding occurs on mainland Britain, where the habitat is not so good, then species may well be threatened," Ms Whitehorn suggested.
Other studies of invertebrates have found other costs as a result of inbreeding, such as a loss of general fitness in the species in question.
Habitat loss is resulting in populations of bees becoming more and more isolated from their neighbours, effectively leaving them as island populations.
Ms Whitehorn cited the example of the short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus), which finally became nationally extinct in the late 1980s when a parasitic infection placed increased pressure on the remaining populations, which were already vulnerable as a result of fragmented habitats.
To date, recent attempts to re-introduce the population back into the UK from New Zealand - where it had been introduced from Britain in the late 19th Century, have not been successful.
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust said efforts to conserve bumblebees were vital as the creatures played a key role as pollinators, especially when it came to wild flowers and commercial crops.
The UK currently has 24 species of bumblebee, after seeing two species become nationally extinct in recent decades.
Of the remaining species, one quarter have been identified as being in need of conservation to prevent them from disappearing from the British landscape.
By Mark Kinver
Science and environment reporter, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11199779
Inbred bumblebees 'face extinction threat' (via Dawn Holloway)
Some of the UK's rarest bumblebees are at risk of becoming extinct as a result of inbreeding, research suggests.
The lack of genetic diversity is making the bees more vulnerable to a number of threats, including parasitic infection, say scientists in Scotland.
They warn that some populations of bees are becoming increasingly isolated as a result of habitat loss.
The findings are being presented at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting at the University of Leeds.
Lead researcher Penelope Whitehorn, a PhD student from Stirling University, said the study of moss carder bumblebees (Bombus muscorum) on nine Hebridean islands, off the west coast of Scotland, offered an important insight into the possible consequences of inbreeding.
"The genetic work had already been carried out on these bumblebees, so we knew that the smaller and more isolated populations were more inbred than the larger populations on the mainland," she told BBC News.
"And as it was an island system, it could work as a proxy for what could occur on the mainland if populations do become isolated from each other as a result of habitat fragmentation."
The study is believed to be the first of its kind to investigate inbreeding and immunity in wild bees.
Uncertain future
Ms Whitehorn found that, although the inbreeding did not seem to affect the bees' immune system directly, it did make the insects more susceptible to parasitic infection.
The study offered a good insight into the potential consequences for species found on the UK mainland Some of the UK's rarest bumblebees are at risk of becoming extinct as a result of inbreeding, research suggests.
The ideal habitat on the Hebridean islands offers the resident bee populations a fighting chance "We found that isolated island populations of the moss carder bumblebee with lower genetic diversity have an increased prevalence of the gut parasite Crithidia bombi," she explained.
"Our study suggests that as bumblebee populations lose genetic diversity the impact of parasitism will increase, which may increase the extinction risk of threatened populations."
She added that the populations of the bees on the islands were "quite healthy because the habitat was so good", but inbreeding did have a range of other consequences, such as the production of infertile males.
"If inbreeding occurs on mainland Britain, where the habitat is not so good, then species may well be threatened," Ms Whitehorn suggested.
Other studies of invertebrates have found other costs as a result of inbreeding, such as a loss of general fitness in the species in question.
Habitat loss is resulting in populations of bees becoming more and more isolated from their neighbours, effectively leaving them as island populations.
Ms Whitehorn cited the example of the short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus), which finally became nationally extinct in the late 1980s when a parasitic infection placed increased pressure on the remaining populations, which were already vulnerable as a result of fragmented habitats.
To date, recent attempts to re-introduce the population back into the UK from New Zealand - where it had been introduced from Britain in the late 19th Century, have not been successful.
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust said efforts to conserve bumblebees were vital as the creatures played a key role as pollinators, especially when it came to wild flowers and commercial crops.
The UK currently has 24 species of bumblebee, after seeing two species become nationally extinct in recent decades.
Of the remaining species, one quarter have been identified as being in need of conservation to prevent them from disappearing from the British landscape.
By Mark Kinver
Science and environment reporter, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11199779
The lack of genetic diversity is making the bees more vulnerable to a number of threats, including parasitic infection, say scientists in Scotland.
They warn that some populations of bees are becoming increasingly isolated as a result of habitat loss.
The findings are being presented at the British Ecological Society's annual meeting at the University of Leeds.
Lead researcher Penelope Whitehorn, a PhD student from Stirling University, said the study of moss carder bumblebees (Bombus muscorum) on nine Hebridean islands, off the west coast of Scotland, offered an important insight into the possible consequences of inbreeding.
"The genetic work had already been carried out on these bumblebees, so we knew that the smaller and more isolated populations were more inbred than the larger populations on the mainland," she told BBC News.
"And as it was an island system, it could work as a proxy for what could occur on the mainland if populations do become isolated from each other as a result of habitat fragmentation."
The study is believed to be the first of its kind to investigate inbreeding and immunity in wild bees.
Uncertain future
Ms Whitehorn found that, although the inbreeding did not seem to affect the bees' immune system directly, it did make the insects more susceptible to parasitic infection.
The study offered a good insight into the potential consequences for species found on the UK mainland Some of the UK's rarest bumblebees are at risk of becoming extinct as a result of inbreeding, research suggests.
The ideal habitat on the Hebridean islands offers the resident bee populations a fighting chance "We found that isolated island populations of the moss carder bumblebee with lower genetic diversity have an increased prevalence of the gut parasite Crithidia bombi," she explained.
"Our study suggests that as bumblebee populations lose genetic diversity the impact of parasitism will increase, which may increase the extinction risk of threatened populations."
She added that the populations of the bees on the islands were "quite healthy because the habitat was so good", but inbreeding did have a range of other consequences, such as the production of infertile males.
"If inbreeding occurs on mainland Britain, where the habitat is not so good, then species may well be threatened," Ms Whitehorn suggested.
Other studies of invertebrates have found other costs as a result of inbreeding, such as a loss of general fitness in the species in question.
Habitat loss is resulting in populations of bees becoming more and more isolated from their neighbours, effectively leaving them as island populations.
Ms Whitehorn cited the example of the short-haired bumblebee (Bombus subterraneus), which finally became nationally extinct in the late 1980s when a parasitic infection placed increased pressure on the remaining populations, which were already vulnerable as a result of fragmented habitats.
To date, recent attempts to re-introduce the population back into the UK from New Zealand - where it had been introduced from Britain in the late 19th Century, have not been successful.
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust said efforts to conserve bumblebees were vital as the creatures played a key role as pollinators, especially when it came to wild flowers and commercial crops.
The UK currently has 24 species of bumblebee, after seeing two species become nationally extinct in recent decades.
Of the remaining species, one quarter have been identified as being in need of conservation to prevent them from disappearing from the British landscape.
By Mark Kinver
Science and environment reporter, BBC News
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11199779
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)