Seasonal Effects on the Population, Morphology and Reproductive Behavior of Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae)

Cirino, Lauren A.; Miller, Charles H.

doi:10.3390/insects8010013

Cited by 20 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Even virgin female N. femorata can be choosy, simply keeping their genital plates closed to avoid mating (Gillespie et al. ; Cirino and Miller ). It is also possible that males missing a hind‐limb weapon may have greater rates of infertility than intact males.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…). Insects raised under our laboratory conditions can grow as large as field‐collected individuals, but they are on average smaller than insects captured from the wild, suggesting the nutrition available is suboptimal (e.g., Cirino and Miller ; Miller et al. ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Miller et al 2016). Insects raised under our laboratory conditions can grow as large as fieldcollected individuals, but they are on average smaller than insects captured from the wild, suggesting the nutrition available is suboptimal (e.g., Cirino and Miller 2017;Miller et al 2016). We induced autotomy at the beginning of the fourth (penultimate) juvenile instar, since heteropteran testes undergo increased growth later in juvenile development (Economopolous and Gordon 1971;Dumser and Davey 1974).…”

Section: Animal Husbandry and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Males that drop a sexually selected weapon grow larger testes

et al. 2017

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Costly sexually selected weapons are predicted to trade off with postcopulatory traits, such as testes. Although weapons can be important for achieving access to females, individuals of some species can permanently drop (i.e. autotomize) their weapons, without regeneration, to escape danger. We capitalized on this natural behavior to experimentally address whether the loss of a sexually selected weapon leads to increased testes investment in the leaf-footed cactus bug, Narnia femorata Stål (Hemiptera: Coreidae). In a second experiment, we measured offspring production for males that lost a weapon during development. As predicted, males that dropped a hind limb during development grew significantly larger testes than the control treatments. Hindlimb autotomy did not result in the enlargement of other nearby traits. Our results are the first to experimentally demonstrate that males compensate for natural weapon loss by investing more in testes. In a second experiment we found that females paired with males that lost a hind limb had 40% lower egg hatching success than females paired with intact males, perhaps because of lower mating receptivity to males with a lost limb. Importantly, in those cases where viable offspring were produced, males missing a hind limb produced 42% more offspring than males with intact limbs. These results suggest that the loss of a hind-limb weapon can, in some cases, lead to greater fertilization success.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Animal Husbandry and Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Males that drop a sexually selected weapon grow larger testes

et al. 2017

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“…Graduate students were also able to further their own research objectives by having undergraduates work on projects that were eventually published (e.g. Cirino & Miller, ; Emberts et al., ). Graduate students were able to assess the effectiveness of their teaching and mentorship through the use of the CURE survey and focus groups.…”

Section: Benefits Of Science Communication Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further, we revisited and reinforced student understanding of ecology and evolutionary biology to help them gain deeper context for their ongoing laboratory research projects (e.g. Cirino & Miller, ; Emberts, St Mary, & Miller, ; Joseph, Sasson, Allen, Somjee, & Miller, ; Miller, McDonald, & Moore, ). Activities specifically focused on science oral communication involved (i) the presentation of primary scientific literature to peers, (ii) the development of a research monologue for the public, and (iii) the construction and presentation of a technical poster based on their current undergraduate research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadening the voice of science: Promoting scientific communication in the undergraduate classroom

Cirino

Emberts

Joseph

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Effective and accurate communication of scientific findings is essential. Unfortunately, scientists are not always well trained in how to best communicate their results with other scientists nor do all appreciate the importance of speaking with the public. Here, we provide an example of how the development of oral communication skills can be integrated with research experiences at the undergraduate level. We describe our experiences developing, running, and evaluating a course for undergraduates that complemented their existing undergraduate research experiences with instruction on the nature of science and intensive training on the development of science communication skills. Students delivered science talks, research monologues, and poster presentations about the ecological and evolutionary research in which they were involved. We evaluated the effectiveness of our approach using the CURE survey and a focus group. As expected, undergraduates reported strong benefits to communication skills and confidence. We provide guidance for college researchers, instructors, and administrators interested in motivating and equipping the next generation of scientists to be excellent science communicators.

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