Our #RiceUniversity EEB program graduate students met with Dr. Patrik Nosil from France - author of the book Ecological Speciation. Thank you, Dr. Nosil! 🧬🧬🧬

North America (south to the Darién Gap) is the best continent, judged solely on the basis of gall wasps.

🤩🤩🤩

Thousands of daddy long legs (or harvestmen) emerging from an underground aggregation in Baja, MX. 🕷️

Sierra de la Laguna, Baja, MX.

Baja butterfly convention, El Rosario Uno, Baja California Sur.

Searching southern Baja for gall wasps on an endangered live oak.

Some good environmental news!

In a study of Cry proteins from GE crops on aquatic caddisflies, which in lab experiments show sublethal effects— “Cry1Ab exposure is not a major driver of variation … under natural field conditions”. #conservation @entsocamerica.bsky.social
@pedrobd.bsky.social

Assessing morphological, developmental, and genetic responses of Hydropsychid caddisflies to Cry1Ab exposure Abstract. Transgenic crops expressing Cry proteins are widely cultivated to reduce crop damage from insect pests. However, Cry proteins can leach from tran

“Assessing morphological, developmental, and genetic responses of Hydropsychid caddisflies to Cry1Ab exposure” (3/3)

academic.oup.com/ee/article/5...

rows of corn plants growing in a field on a sunny day ALT: rows of corn plants growing in a field on a sunny day

What is “#pseudopersistence”?

It refers to contaminants like pharmaceuticals or pesticides with short environmental half lives that are continuously observed in ecosystems due to constant replacement from a source. In this case, Cry proteins leach year round from GE crops & detritus. (2/3)

New paper led by #RiceUniversity undergrad Ethan Bull & former PhD student @pedrobd.bsky.social in collaboration with @notredamescience.bsky.social assessing the role of a pseudopersistant contaminant, Cry1Ab leaching from GE crops, on aquatic caddisflies. @entsocamerica.bsky.social
(1/3)

Congratulations @pedrobd.bsky.social! Very cool work!

Assessing morphological, developmental, and genetic responses of Hydropsychid caddisflies to Cry1Ab exposure Abstract. Transgenic crops expressing Cry proteins are widely cultivated to reduce crop damage from insect pests. However, Cry proteins can leach from tran

Transgenic crops release Cry proteins into streams.

But what does that mean for aquatic insects?🌱💧🐛

We measured and barcoded 1,800+ caddisflies across 25 streams.

Environmental factors like temperature, land use explained most patterns. Cry1Ab had limited impact.
academic.oup.com/ee/article/5...

Cool #eDNA work by @pedrobd.bsky.social & colleagues!

It’s interesting to watch them navigate dense vegetation. They get around surprisingly well.

G’morning from Texas!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toomer%...

The coolest journal cover I will ever be part of featuring the rolled Toomer’s oak at #AuburnUniversity! Yes, that’s toilet paper! 🧻 @genetics-gsa.bsky.social

A haplotype-resolved, chromosome-scale genome assembly for the southern live oak, Quercus virginiana url: academic.oup.com/g3journal/ar...

🔎 Undergrad Research #Rice🦉

🌳❤️🦟 👀Want hands-on experience in observational, behavioral, and experimental research?

Join the @scottpegan.bsky.social lab to study plant-insect interactions & work on real projects in evolution ✨

Contact: Maryam R Faghihi
📩 Email: mr85@rice.edu

a cockroach is sitting at a table eating a burger ALT: a cockroach is sitting at a table eating a burger

#malaxation - in entomology, the process of chewing prey to prepare for consumption by larvae.

Bluebonnets against green leaves.

Texas bluebonnets are in full bloom this week #wildflowerhour

Perched on the trunk of a live oak at #RiceUniversity, a male brown anole (Anolis sagrei) signals other males by displaying his dewlap. This is an introduced species to Texas that is native to Cuba and other parts of the Caribbean.🦎

Ohhh! Awesome! We have SO MANY in the live - oak gall system!

#A_day_in_the_life of a live oak (day 463): FOUR morphospecies of Torymus parasitoid wasps (Torymidae) emerged from leaf & root galls of Belonocnema mesoamericana on the Central American live oak (Quercus oleoides) near Los Otates, Veracruz. #biodiversity @jhr.pensoft.net @ymilesz.bsky.social

#A_day_in_the_life of a live oak (day 462): Many unidentified parasitoid wasps from the Pteromalini (Pteromalidae) emerged from leaf galls of Belonocnema mesoamericana on the Central American live oak (Quercus oleoides) near Los Otates, Veracruz. #biodiversity #undiscovered
@jhr.pensoft.net

#A_day_in_the_life of a live oak (day 461): Six morphospecies of Ormyrus parasitoid wasps (Ormyridae) emerged from both leaf & root galls induced by Belonocnema mesoamericana on the Central American live oak (Q. oleoides) in Los Otates, Veracruz. #biodiversity
@jhr.pensoft.net @ymilesz.bsky.social

Collections of Callirhytis
@maryamrfaghihi.bsky.social
@waspvenom.bsky.social

#A_day_in_the_life of a live oak (day 460): Another FOUR morphospecies of Sycophila parasitoids (Eurytomidae) emerged from leaf galls induced by Belonocnema mesoamericana on the Central American live oak (Q. oleoides) near Los Otates, Veracruz. #biodiversity @jhr.pensoft.net @ymilesz.bsky.social

#A_day_in_the_life of a live oak (day 459): FOUR morpho-species of Brasema parasitoid wasps (Eupelmidae) emerged from leaf galls induced by Belonocnema mesoamericana on the Central American live oak (Quercus oleoides) near Los Otates, Veracruz. #biodiversity @jhr.pensoft.net @ymilesz.bsky.social

Strawberry guava is one of the top 100 most problematic invasive species worldwide. In the biodiversity hotspot of Madagascar we observed that it can arrest native forest succession causing long term ecological harm. But it also feeds endangered lemurs creating a challenging conservation problem.