Dung dynasty: The plant boosting powers of beetle recyclers
Dung beetles, those unsung heroes of the insect world renowned for their prowess in breaking down cattle dung, have now been found to have a positive impact on plant growth.
Dung beetles, those unsung heroes of the insect world renowned for their prowess in breaking down cattle dung, have now been found to have a positive impact on plant growth.
Plants & Animals
Mar 20, 2024
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Natural predators like birds, beetles and bugs might be an effective alternative to pesticides, keeping crop-devouring pests populations down while boosting crop yields, researchers said Wednesday.
Agriculture
Mar 6, 2024
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For the first time, researchers in Canada have investigated the use of the sterile insect technique for controlling populations of the pepper weevil, Anthonomus eugenii, an economically significant crop pest in North America.
Molecular & Computational biology
Feb 23, 2024
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Snakeflies (Raphidioptera), also known as camel-neck flies, have gained further notoriety with the selection of the Black-necked Snakefly as Insect of the Year 2022 in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. These diurnal, predatory ...
Evolution
Feb 8, 2024
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University of Alberta research provides new insight into how harmful fungal infections could affect the ability of lodgepole pines to defend themselves from deadly mountain pine beetle attacks.
Ecology
Jan 25, 2024
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A small team of biologists and animal scientists from Lund University in Sweden, working with a colleague from the University of the Witwatersrand, in South Africa, has discovered that pairs of opposite-gender dung beetles ...
Life on Earth runs on a 24-hour cycle as the planet turns. Animals and plants have built-in circadian clocks that synchronize metabolism and behavior to this daily cycle. But one beetle is out of sync with the rest of nature.
Plants & Animals
Jan 18, 2024
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Waste is a natural by-product of life on Earth and of productive human economies. Living systems have evolved to reconstitute waste—creatures like dung beetles fill an ecological niche of breaking down other organisms' ...
Environment
Jan 18, 2024
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Forest leaf litter, often likened to terrestrial coral reefs, supports an astonishing variety of life. Among the myriad arthropods dwelling in this ecosystem, beetles emerge as the most common and speciose group. Despite ...
Ecology
Jan 9, 2024
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In eastern Australia, the arrival of the summer holidays has traditionally been heralded by big iridescent beetles known as Christmas beetles due to their appearance during the Christmas season.
Plants & Animals
Dec 12, 2023
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Adephaga Archostemata Myxophaga Polyphaga See subgroups of the order Coleoptera
Beetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are classified in the order Coleoptera (pronounced /ˌkoʊliˈɒptərə/; from Greek κολεός, koleos, "sheath"; and πτερόν, pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing"), which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal kingdom, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms. 40% of all described insect species are beetles (about 350,000 species), and new species are frequently discovered. Estimates put the total number of species, described and undescribed, at between 5 and 8 million. The largest family also belongs to this order—the weevils, or snout beetles, Curculionidae.
Beetles can be found in almost all habitats, but are not known to occur in the sea or in the polar regions. They interact with their ecosystems in several ways. They often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are prey of various animals including birds and mammals. Certain species are agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata, the boll weevil Anthonomus grandis, the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, and the mungbean or cowpea beetle Callosobruchus maculatus, while other species of beetles are important controls of agricultural pests. For example, beetles in the family Coccinellidae ("ladybirds" or "ladybugs") consume aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops.
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