No description available.

No description available.

"All cold-blooded animals and a large number of warm-blooded ones spend an unexpectedly large proportion of their time doing nothing at all, or at any rate, nothing in particular." (Elton 1927) Many animals are remarkably "lazy", spending >50% of their waking hours "resting" . This is common across all taxa, ecologies, and life histories, including what are commonly considered to be highly industrious animals: the social insects (e.g., Aesop's Fable 'The Grasshopper and the Ant'). This dissertation broadly seeks to explain a phenomenon that has long been observed, but never adequately addressed, by asking: 'why are there 'lazy' ants?' First, I established that inactivity was a real and ecologically relevant phenomenon in the ant Temnothorax rugatulus by testing whether inactivity was a lab artifact. I then showed that inactive workers comprise a behaviorally distinct group of workers that are commonly overlooked in studies looking at colony function, though they typically represent at least half of the individuals within social insect colonies. I then tested a set of mutually non-exclusive hypotheses explaining inactivity in social insects: that (1) inactivity is a form of social "cheating" in which egg-laying workers selfishly invest in their own reproduction rather than contribute to colony fitness, (2) inactive workers comprise a pool of reserve workers used to mitigate the effects of fluctuations in colony workload, (3) inactivity is the result of physiological constraints on worker age such that young and old workers may less active due to inexperience/physical vulnerability, and physiological deterioration respectively, (4) inactive workers are performing an as-yet unidentified function, such as playing a role in communication and acting as food stores, or repletes, and that (5) inactive workers represent the 'slow' end of intra-nest variation in worker 'pace-of-life'. Inactivity is linked to worker age, reproduction, and a potential function as food stores for the colony. These hypotheses are not mutually exclusive, and in fact, likely form a 'syndrome' of behaviors common to inactive social insect workers. Their simultaneous contribution to worker inactivity may explain the difficulty in finding a simple answer to this deceptively simple question.

Drumming is first described for five North American stonefly species, Acroneuria evoluta, Doroneuria baumanni, Isoperla namata, Chernokrilus misnomus, and Pictetiella expansa. Signals of Acroneuria lycorias, Phasganophora capitata and Isoperla signata are further described. Drumming was not recorded from Amhinemura delosa. Signals of A. evoluta are the most complex yet recorded in Plecoptera. Doroneuria baumanni, P. expanse, C. misnomus and P. capitata have 2-way exchanges. Male D. baumanni produce two prolonged beats by rubbing the hammer on the substratum; male-female signals are non-overlapping in the first two species and overlapping in the latter two. Female P. capitata answered with an unusually long sequence of beats. Two male Isoperla species produced monophasic calls without female answers. Female A. lycorias answered taped male signals with monophasic signals like all observed females.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Plant Protection)) --University of Limpopo, 2012 / Attractiveness of insect pest for use as sources of food may be improved by providing information on preservation and relevant nutritional value. Nutritional composition in edible insects may depend on drying method and/or vegetation (location). Influence of drying method and location on nutritional composition of the African metallic wood boring beetle (Sternocera orissa), widely consumed in certain rural communities of Limpopo Province, South Africa, was investigated. Randomised complete block design in a 3 x 3 factorial arrangement was used with three drying methods (oven-drying, freeze drying, cooking method) and three locations (Khureng, Magatle, Ga-Masemola), with three replicates. Nutritional composition data were subjected to a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and means were separated using Turkey Honestly Significant Differences (HSD) at 5 % level of significance. Relative to freeze-drying, oven-drying and cooking methods increased protein, carbohydrates, fat, energy, ash and dry matter content with the exception of cooking method, which decreased the moisture content. Compared to other locations, Ga-Masemola significantly increased fat and energy of the test beetle. Relative to the freeze-drying method, oven-drying and cooking increased (P ≤ 0.05) essential and non-essential amino acids. Location did not have significant effect on the essential and non-essential amino acids of S. orissa across all the villages. Similarly, oven-drying and cooking increased K, P, Fe, Zn and Mg. Compared to locations, Ga-Masemola increased (P ≤ 0.05) Fe of the test beetle. Results of the study suggested that oven-drying and cooking methods improved the nutritional composition of S. orissa, which has the potential of enhancing nutrition in marginal rural communities of Limpopo Province. Providing results of this study to rural communities through extension services has the potential of improving the attractiveness of this beetle to marginal communities, and thus, increasing harvesting and therefore, reduce insects population densities. / the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) and the National Research Foundation

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tasmania, 1994. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tasmania, 1994. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 434-474). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 434-474).

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1944.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-112).

Thesis (M.P.H.)--University of Michigan, 1944.

The results presented in this dissertation have been partially presented at scientific meetings. Chapter 2 is an exact copy of the technical contents of a paper submitted to a scientific journal. The format of this paper however has been changed to comply with the format used in this dissertation. The results of this paper were partially presented at the 36th National Congress of the South African Society of Animal Science, 5 – 8 April 1998 held in Stellenbosch. In this chapter errors occurred in the execution of the trial, but these were corrected in the follow-up trial after consulting with the manufacturers. It is discussed in the paper. Results of chapter 3 were partially presented at the 5th International Sheep Veterinary Congress 21 – 25 January 2001 held in Stellenbosch and at an International Congress (The FLICS (Flystrike & Lice IPM Control Strategies) Conference, 25 – 27 June 2001, Launceston) in Tasmania by Mr. S.W.P. Cloete in 2001. The updated results are given in this chapter. The results of chapter 4 were presented at a combined congress between the Grasslands and the Animal Production Societies of South Africa (The GSSA/SASAS Joint Congress 2002. 13 – 16 May) in Christiana in 2002. The results in this chapter represent the same experimental period as was reported upon at that congress, but additional statistical analyses were executed on the same data set. Copies of the abstracts of the contributions to these meetings are attached in chapter 6. The major objective of this study initially was to evaluate the Lucitrap® system under South African conditions. During the experimental period I had an opportunity to visit Australia and meet many role players. It came under my attention that the control of the blowfly is a rather complex problem with many facets. A current issue worldwide on the use of chemicals as a control method against insects and its hazardous influence on the environment is forcing producers to minimize chemical residues in textiles and other agricultural products. An Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach seems to be the only option. This study has been executed to try and understand some aspects of the blowfly problem for future application in such a blowfly control program.