Staying in touch: how highly specialised moth pollinators track host plant phenology in unpredictable climates

Background For specialised pollinators, the synchrony of plant and pollinator life history is critical to the persistence of pollinator populations. This is even more critical in nursery pollination, where pollinators are obligately dependant on female host plant flowers for oviposition sites. Epicephala moths (Gracillariidae) form highly specialised nursery pollination mutualisms with Phyllanthaceae plants. Several hundred Phyllanthaceae are estimated to be exclusively pollinated by highly specific Epicephala moths, making these mutualisms an outstanding example of plant–insect coevolution. However, there have been no studies of how Epicephala moths synchronise their activity with host plant flowering or persist through periods when flowers are absent. Such knowledge is critical to understanding the ecology and evolutionary stability of these mutualisms. We surveyed multiple populations of both Breynia oblongifolia (Phyllanthaceae) and it’s Epicephala pollinators for over two years to determine their phenology and modelled the environmental factors that underpin their interactions. Results The abundance of flowers and fruits was highly variable and strongly linked to local rainfall and photoperiod. Unlike male flowers and fruits, female flowers were present throughout the entire year, including winter. Fruit abundance was a significant predictor of adult Epicephala activity, suggesting that eggs or early instar larvae diapause within dormant female flowers and emerge as fruits mature. Searches of overwintering female flowers confirmed that many contained pollen and diapausing pollinators. We also observed diapause in Epicephala prior to pupation, finding that 12% (9/78) of larvae emerging from fruits in the autumn entered an extended diapause for 38–48 weeks. The remaining autumn emerging larvae pupated directly without diapause, suggesting a possible bet-hedging strategy. Conclusions Epicephala appear to use diapause at multiple stages in their lifecycle to survive variable host plant phenology. Furthermore, moth abundance was predicted by the same environmental variables as male flowers, suggesting that moths track flowering through temperature. These adaptations may thereby mitigate against unpredictability in the timing of fruiting and flowering because of variable rainfall. It remains to be seen how widespread egg diapause and pre-pupal diapause may be within Epicephala moths, and, furthermore, to what degree these traits may have facilitated the evolution of these highly diverse mutualisms.

Wolbachia Strain wGri From the Tea Geometrid Moth Ectropis grisescens Contributes to Its Host’s Fecundity

Members of the Wolbachia genus manipulate insect–host reproduction and are the most abundant bacterial endosymbionts of insects. The tea Geometrid moth Ectropis grisescens (Warren) (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) is the most devastating insect pest of tea plants [Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze] in China. However, limited data on the diversity, typing, or phenotypes of Wolbachia in E. grisescens are available. Here, we used a culture-independent method to compare the gut bacteria of E. grisescens and other tea Geometridae moths. The results showed that the composition of core gut bacteria in larvae of the three Geometridae moth species was similar, except for the presence of Wolbachia. Moreover, Wolbachia was also present in adult female E. grisescens samples. A Wolbachia strain was isolated from E. grisescens and designated as wGri. Comparative analyses showed that this strain shared multilocus sequence types and Wolbachia surface protein hypervariable region profiles with cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI)-inducing strains in supergroup B; however, the wGri-associated phenotypes were undetermined. A reciprocal cross analysis showed that Wolbachia-uninfected females mated with infected males resulted in 100% embryo mortality (0% eggs hatched per female). Eggs produced by mating between uninfected males and infected females hatched normally. These findings indicated that wGri induces strong unidirectional CI in E. grisescens. Additionally, compared with uninfected females, Wolbachia-infected females produced approximately 30–40% more eggs. Together, these results show that this Wolbachia strain induces reproductive CI in E. grisescens and enhances the fecundity of its female host. We also demonstrated that wGri potential influences reproductive communication between E. grisescens and Ectropis obliqua through CI.

Direct allele introgression into pure chicken breeds using Sire Dam Surrogate (SDS) mating

Poultry is the most abundant livestock species with over 60 billion chickens raised globally per year. The majority of chicken are produced from commercial flocks, however many indigenous chicken breeds play an important role in rural economies as they are well adapted to local environmental and scavenging conditions. The ability to make precise genetic changes in chicken will permit the validation of genetic variants responsible for climate adaptation and disease resilience, and the transfer of beneficial alleles between breeds. Here, we generate a novel inducibly sterile surrogate host chicken. Introducing donor genome edited primordial germ cells into the sterile male and female host embryos produces adult chicken carrying only exogenous germ cells. Subsequent direct mating of the surrogate hosts, Sire Dam Surrogate (SDS) mating, recreates the donor chicken breed carrying the edited allele in a single generation. We demonstrate the introgression and validation of two feather trait alleles, Dominant white and Frizzle into two pure chicken breeds using the SDS surrogate hosts.

Single generation allele introgression into pure chicken breeds using Sire Dam Surrogate (SDS) mating

SummaryPoultry is the most abundant livestock species with over 60 billion chickens raised globally per year. While most chicken are produced from highly selected commercial flocks the many indigenous chicken breeds, which have low productivity and have not been highly selected, play an important role in rural economies across the world as they are well adapted to local environmental and scavenging conditions. The ability to rapidly transfer genetic changes between breeds of chicken will permit the transfer of beneficial alleles between poultry breeds as well as allow validation of genetic variants responsible for different phenotypic traits. Here, we generate a novel inducibly sterile surrogate host chicken. Introducing donor genome edited primordial cells into the sterile male and female host embryos produces chicken carrying only exogenous germ cells. Subsequent direct mating of the surrogate hosts, Sire Dam Surrogate (SDS) mating, recreates pure chicken breeds carrying the edited allele in heterozygous or homozygous states. We demonstrate the transfer and validation of two feather trait alleles, Dominant white and Frizzle traits into two pure chicken breeds using the SDS surrogate hosts. This technology will allow the rapid reconstitution of chicken breeds carrying desired genetic changes to investigate climate adaptation and disease resilience traits.

Humor and Performing Gender on TV Cooking Shows

A central aspect of humor is its social function in relating to others and in performing gender. Drawing on insights from interactional sociolinguistics and gender studies, this article explores the relationship between humor and gender in the context of one US instructional tv cooking show The Pioneer Woman. The gender element, while essential to performed humor, is often neglected in research on humor, language, and the media; therefore, this paper looks into how humor is signaled in the cooking show individually and jointly. Humorous joking of the female host Ree Drummond is discussed, specifically self-directed humor and teasing as expressed in personal stories and exaggeration. The ambiguity of the humorous messages reveals contradictory messages: on the one hand, self-deprecating humor reveals feelings of inadequacy for not meeting gendered status quo, and on the other hand, teasing and self-deprecation function as a persuasive strategy to promote the celebrity’s cooking and brand.

LANGUAGE USE BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE HOST IN HITAM PUTIH TALK SHOW

This study discusses about language use occurred by male and female host in Hitam Putih talk show. The research is conducted by applying qualitative descriptive design. The subjects of this study are male and female host in Hitam Putih talk show. The data are the utterances produced by male and female host in Hitam Putih talk show. This research focuses on the show broadcasted on October 2016 by taking 4 videos randomly. The objectives of this study are (1) to describe kinds of the language use uttered by male and female host in Hitam Putih talk show, (2) to elucidate language use represented by male and female host in Hitam Putih talk show and (3) to describe reasons of different language use by male and female host in Hitam Putih talk show in the ways they are. Additionally, the data are analyzed by applying theory of Interactive Model. The findings showed that the kinds of language use consist of 6 parts such as specialized vocabulary, expletives, empty adjectives, tag questions, polite form and telling joke or humor. The dominant language use uttered by male host is expletive, because male’s utterances are frequently stated in a negative connotation. There are common expressions generally referring to English expletives such as: bad language, profanity, swearwords, cursing, foul language, etc. On the other hand, female host utterances are found in specialized vocabulary as the most dominant because female host has more interest in talking family affairs, such as the education of children, clothes, cooking, and fashion, etc. Women also tended to talk about one thing related to the home and domestic activities. However, the representation of language use uttered by male and female are deficit, dominance and different. And the reason of this matter because of some factors such as psychology and different social status.Key words: Language use, Gender, Talk show

Deceptive signals and behaviors of a cleptoparasitic beetle show local adaptation to different host bee species

Chemosensory signals play a key role in species recognition and mate location in both invertebrate and vertebrate species. Closely related species often produce similar but distinct signals by varying the ratios or components in pheromone blends to avoid interference in their communication channels and minimize cross-attraction among congeners. However, exploitation of reproductive signals by predators and parasites also may provide strong selective pressure on signal phenotypes. For example, bolas spiders mimic the pheromones of several moth species to attract their prey, and parasitic blister beetle larvae, known as triungulins, cooperatively produce an olfactory signal that mimics the sex pheromone of their female host bees to attract male bees, as the first step in being transported by their hosts to their nests. In both cases, there is strong selection pressure on the host to discriminate real mates from aggressive mimics and, conversely, on the predator, parasite, or parasitoid to track and locally adapt to the evolving signals of its hosts. Here we show local adaptation of a beetle, Meloe franciscanus (Coleoptera: Meloidae), to the pheromone chemistry and mate location behavior of its hosts, two species of solitary bees in the genus Habropoda. We report that M. franciscanus’ deceptive signal is locally host-adapted in its chemical composition and ratio of components, with host bees from each allopatric population preferring the deceptive signals of their sympatric parasite population. Furthermore, in different locales, the triungulin aggregations have adapted their perching height to the height at which local male bees typically patrol for females.