Experience acquisition by Trichogramma australicum Girault (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae)

We investigated experience acquisition (alpha-conditioning) by females of the parasitoid Trichogramma australicum using host eggs of the noctuid moth Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner). We compared the acceptance of a host egg by females with different levels of ovipositional experience. The level of experience was designated using the standard oviposition sequence: (1) host contact (C); (2) host examination (E); (3) drilling (D); (4) full insertion (FI); and (5) oviposition (O). Each treatment consisted of a single experience level, but together these consituted a qualitative behavioural continuum of oviposition experience from naive (N) to experienced wasps. We found that host experience by adult T. australicum females can modify their behaviour. Mean duration of host finding was: N = C > E = D > FI = O. Mean duration of host examination and full insertion were: N = C > E = D = FI = O. Drilling was constant for all experience levels. Experience in drilling of the chorion during the previous host-exposure process represents a critical experience for a female and results in efficient handling and more ready acceptance of a subsequently encountered host egg.     

The Unknown Vygotsky: On the Experience of a Literary Translation from Hebrew

Following is the first publication of a previously unknown translation by L.S. Vygotsky from Hebrew of a fictional short story by M.J. Berdyczewski, a Jewish writer popular at the beginning of the twentieth century. The commentary by the authors of this article reconstructs the context of Vygotsky’s life situation during the prerevolutionary period. Particular attention is focused on the questions of ethnic and cultural self-determination that were confronting him. The cultural contexts essential for an understanding and interpretation of the artistic and world-view features of the text of the short story are explored. A comparison is drawn to show the connection between the themes addressed in the story and the substantive problems that Vygotsky would subsequently deal with as a professional psychology: the artistic inner experience, moral choice, and cultural mediation.     

To be or not to be faithful: flexible fidelity to foraging trails in the leaf‐cutting ant Acromyrmex lobicornis

1. Ants using trails to forage have to select between two alternative routes at bifurcations, using two, potentially conflicting, sources of information to make their decision: individual experience to return to a previous successful foraging site (i.e. fidelity) and ant traffic. In the field, we investigated which of these two types of information individuals of the leaf‐cutting ant Acromyrmex lobicornis Emery use to decide which foraging route to take. 2. We measured the proportion of foraging ants returning to each trail of bifurcations the following day, and for 4–7 consecutive days. We then experimentally increased ant traffic on one trail of the bifurcation by adding additional food sources to examine the effect of increased ant traffic on the decision that ants make. 3. Binomial tests showed that for 62% of the trails, ant fidelity was relatively more important than ant traffic in deciding which bifurcation to follow, suggesting the importance of previous experience. 4. When information conflict was generated by experimentally increasing ant traffic along the trail with less foraging activity, most ants relied on ant traffic to decide. However, in 33% of these bifurcations, ants were still faithful to their trail. Thus, there is some degree of flexibility in the decisions that A. lobicornis make to access food resources. 5. This flexible fidelity results in individual variation in the response of workers to different levels of ant traffic, and allows the colony to simultaneously exploit both established and recently discovered food patches, aiding efficient food gathering.     

Leveraging remote learning during the Covid‐19 pandemic to enhance student understanding of biodiversity

We evaluated whether individual nature‐based ecological (NBE) study used in tandem with group collaboration enhanced undergraduate student understanding of ecological concepts and pro‐environmental perceptions. In response to the Covid‐19 pandemic, we developed a multiweek unit on the latitude diversity gradient (LDG) for fully online instruction that leveraged the unique situation of students learning in disparate geographic locations. Student understanding of the LDG and pro‐environmental perceptions were assessed with surveys administered both pre‐ and post‐activity in an introductory‐level biology laboratory course. Student understanding of the geographic location where biodiversity is the highest was high prior to the start of the laboratory unit and exhibited only a small improvement after the unit. In contrast, students’ higher order thinking around the LDG was enhanced by the lab activity. Student environmental perceptions shifted toward ecocentric views and away from anthropocentric views after the laboratory unit. The greatest gains in ecological understanding and shifts toward ecocentric viewpoints occurred in the group of students who visited their field sites most often. Our results provide further evidence as to the value of NBE for the introductory biology laboratory, even in an online learning setting. The lab unit described in this study provides a potential approach to teaching ecology in an online format that could easily be adapted to fit the needs of a particular curriculum.     

ConfocalVR: Immersive Visualization for Confocal Microscopy

ConfocalVR is a virtual reality (VR) application created to improve the ability of researchers to study the complexity of cell architecture. Confocal microscopes take pictures of fluorescently labeled proteins or molecules at different focal planes to create a stack of two-dimensional images throughout the specimen. Current software applications reconstruct the three-dimensional (3D) image and render it as a two-dimensional projection onto a computer screen where users need to rotate the image to expose the full 3D structure. This process is mentally taxing, breaks down if you stop the rotation, and does not take advantage of the eye's full field of view. ConfocalVR exploits consumer-grade VR systems to fully immerse the user in the 3D cellular image. In this virtual environment, the user can (1) adjust image viewing parameters without leaving the virtual space, (2) reach out and grab the image to quickly rotate and scale the image to focus on key features, and (3) interact with other users in a shared virtual space enabling real-time collaborative exploration and discussion. We found that immersive VR technology allows the user to rapidly understand cellular architecture and protein or molecule distribution. We note that it is impossible to understand the value of immersive visualization without experiencing it first hand, so we encourage readers to get access to a VR system, download this software, and evaluate it for yourself. The ConfocalVR software is available for download at http://www.confocalvr.com, and is free for nonprofits.     

Mate Familiarity Affects Pairing Behaviour in a Long‐Term Monogamous Lizard: Evidence from Detailed Bio‐Logging and a 31‐Year Field Study

Long‐term monogamy is most prevalent in birds but is also found in lizards. We combined a 31‐year field study of the long‐lived, monogamous Australian sleepy lizard, Tiliqua rugosa, with continuous behavioural observations through GPS data logging, in 1 yr, to investigate the duration of pair bonds, rates of partner change and whether either the reproductive performance hypothesis or the mate familiarity hypothesis could explain this remarkable long‐term monogamy. The reproductive performance hypothesis predicts higher reproductive success in more experienced parents, whereas the mate familiarity hypothesis suggests that effects of partner familiarity select for partner retention and long‐term monogamy. Rates of partner change were below 34% over a 5‐yr period and most sleepy lizards formed long‐term pair bonds: 31 partnerships lasted for more than 15 yr, 110 for more than 10 yr, and the recorded maximum was 27 yr (ongoing). In the year when we conducted detailed observations, familiar pairs mated significantly earlier than unfamiliar pairs. Previous pairing experience (total number of years paired with previous partners) had no significant effect. Early mating often equates to higher reproductive success, and we infer that is the case in sleepy lizards. Early mating of familiar pairs was not due to better body condition. We propose two suggestions about the proximate mechanisms that may allow familiar pair partners to mate earlier than unfamiliar partners. First, they may have improved coordination of their reproductive sexual cycles to reach receptivity earlier and thereby maximise fertilisation success. Second, they may forage more efficiently, benefiting from effective information transfer and/or cooperative predator detection. Those ideas need empirical testing in the future. Regardless of the mechanism, our observations of sleepy lizard pairing behaviour support the mate familiarity hypothesis, but not the reproductive performance hypothesis, as an explanation for its long‐term monogamous mating system.     

编写《微生物学教程》有感

《微生物学教程》获"首届全国教材奖"(二等奖)的消息后,为响应学院领导提出的总结、交流等要求,特撰写了本文.作者以"愿终生能炼成一个称职的微生物学教师"为指导思想,历经半个多世纪的努力,在教书育人的同时,编写了较多的文章和书籍,其中的代表作当属《微生物学教程》.该书至今已出了 4版,被300余所高等院校选作教材,总印数...     

Forager age and foraging state,but not cumulative foraging activity,affect biogenic amine receptor gene expression in the honeybee mushroom bodies

Foraging behavior is crucial for the development of a honeybee colony. Biogenic amines are key mediators of learning and the transition from in-hive tasks to foraging. Foragers vary considerably in their behavior, but whether and how this behavioral diversity depends on biogenic amines is not yet well understood. For example, forager age, cumulative foraging activity or foraging state may all be linked to biogenic amine signaling. Furthermore, expression levels may fluctuate depending on daytime. We tested if these intrinsic and extrinsic factors are linked to biogenic amine signaling by quantifying the expression of octopamine, dopamine and tyramine receptor genes in the mushroom bodies, important tissues for learning and memory. We found that older foragers had a significantly higher expression of Amdop1, Amdop2, AmoctαR1, and AmoctβR1 compared to younger foragers, whereas Amtar1 showed the opposite pattern. Surprisingly, our measures of cumulative foraging activity were not related to the expression of the same receptor genes in the mushroom bodies. Furthermore, we trained foragers to collect sucrose solution at a specific time of day and tested if the foraging state of time-trained foragers affected receptor gene expression. Bees engaged in foraging had a higher expression of Amdop1 and AmoctβR3/4 than inactive foragers. Finally, the expression of Amdop1, Amdop3, AmoctαR1, and Amtar1 also varied with daytime. Our results show that receptor gene expression in forager mushroom bodies is complex and depends on both intrinsic and extrinsic factors.     

‘Straightening What’s Crooked’? Recognition as Moral Disruption in Indonesia’s Confucianist Revival

ABSTRACT

In 2006, the Indonesian state re-recognised Confucianism as an official religion, but this did not have the straightforwardly positive consequences that either Confucianist revivalists or some theorists of recognition might have predicted. Revivalists were often – but not always – gripped by feelings of outrage and moral torment, whilst the pace of the revival itself was very uneven. These varied outcomes reflect the complex politics pervading the lives of Indonesian Confucianists (and Chinese Indonesians more generally) as post-Suharto reforms force them to grapple with their diverse histories of accommodation and resistance to the New Order’s discriminatory policies. To fully understand such material, first-person moral perspectives must be incorporated into critical anthropological studies of recognition, as a complement to approaches focused on power and domination. Doing so reveals an important general truth about recognition – its capacity to be morally disruptive – and broadens our understanding of why recognition can hurt those it ostensibly stands to benefit.