Tightly coupled evolutionary associations between parasites and their hosts are well known. What is less well characterized is the behavioural specialization of parasites that exploit different hosts in different parts of the parasite's geographical range. Here we examine behavioural specialization among populations of a parasitoid fly, Ormia ochracea, that exploit different host species of crickets in different parts of the fly's range. We conducted a field experiment to compare phonotactic attraction of flies from Florida, Texas, California and Hawaii (U.S.A.) to the songs of their local host species of cricket versus their attraction to the songs of species of crickets utilized as hosts elsewhere within the flies' range. We found strong behavioural specialization of fly populations, with preferential phonotaxis towards the song of the local host species of cricket. These results suggest strong behavioural specialization of flies, but that specialization does not constrain or preclude the rapid adoption of novel hosts.

Recent developments in mobile phone applications for polling traffic and roadway condition data from the public have led to new data sources that complement traditional Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) sensors, weather stations, and automatic vehicle location (AVL) on fleet vehicles. This study compared qualitative assessments by different users of snow plow dashboard images with interstate connected vehicle speeds. The data set was composed of 1,119 geotagged images collected during a snowstorm on February 2-3, 2016 on Interstate 80. The images were classified by three users into one of seven categories to describe the road conditions. The classification of images saw the greatest deviation when road conditions were "wet," "dry," or "icy," suggesting some variation in the interpretation of these categories by the users. Connected vehicle speed data was used to validate conditions and analyze speeds at GPS locations of each image for a two-hour window around when the image was taken to identify any potential impacts the plows have made. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used for all before and after combinations to determine which comparisons were the most significant between minutes before and after the plow, and found that speed data taken between 17 to 12 minutes before the plow had the greatest maximum distance improvement on the speed distributions 25 to 35 minutes after the plow has gone through. Longer term, these techniques will provide a framework for agencies to dynamically monitor changing road conditions and respond to changing weather conditions.

No abstract