Symbiosis of Plants and Insects's Journal

Journal archives for September 2021

September 20, 2021

Phylogenetic Placement and Adaptation -----Shuhao Zhang

In this post, I mainly focus on the phylogenetic placement of hornets. According to OneZoom, I find the hornet belongs to Animalia kingdom, Arthropoda Phylum, Insecta class, Hymenoptera order, Vespidae family, Vespinae subfamily, Vespa genus.
In terms of the common adaptation, one of the most obvious adaptations is that the colors of these species are close to the environment in which they live. For example, the color of Nosy Pill Woodlouses is white and brown. It is close to the color of the trunk, which is the place they live. We can extrapolate based on the knowledge of natural selection. There were nosy pill woodlouses with different colors living in this forest. Because the color of these brown woodlouses was close to the color of the trunk, they were less likely to be seen by their predators, so they were more likely to survive compared with woodlouses with different colors, which were more likely to be seen by predators. Therefore, more and more brown woodlouses survived and had generations. So, it ends up that the color of these nosy pill woodlouses is close to the color of their living environments. This is also working for all of the species in my observations.
But, there is one exception for the common adaptation I mentioned above, and I will take it as a unique adaptation of my observation. This is about the color pattern of ladybugs. Unlike other insects blending their colors to the environment, ladybugs show bright colors and polka dots. This color can warn predators away.

Posted on September 20, 2021 02:40 AM by shuhao1 shuhao1 | 0 comments | Leave a comment

September 22, 2021

Lab 2 Journal Entry: "Adaptations and Phylogenetic Placement" - Drea Garcia

On September 15th, there was a BIOL111 Bioblitz event, during which we were tasked with finding 10 different organisms (each) that related to our topic of choice; seeing as how we chose to analyze how insects interact with plants in their environment, we selected these as the primary subjects of our observations. The Bombus impatiens, known as the Common Eastern Bumble Bee, has an adaptation uncommon to various other insects: hair. Seeing as these bees are native to North America, it was necessary for them to develop protection from the cold, harsh winters; their adaptation of hair around their bodies is well-suited for the climate.

Though many of the organisms observed differed from each other (arachnids vs. hymenopteras, etc), they all had a common adaptation: several legs/appendages. Their numerous appendages allow for an increased range of locomotion, as well as better balance when landing on differing surfaces.

Below is my phylogenetic placement for the Common Eastern Bumble Bees I observed at Jeanne-Mance Park, near Mont Royal:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Anthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Bombus
Species: Bombus impatiens

Posted on September 22, 2021 01:30 AM by dreachip dreachip | 0 comments | Leave a comment

September 23, 2021

Lab 2 journal: Phylogenetic Placement and Adaptations --- Kristie Hui

Following up on the field lab at Jeanne-Mance Park conducted on Sept 15, I have decided to work on the phylogenetic placement of Asian Lady Beetles and here are my identifications:
Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Anthropoda, Class Insecta, Order Coleoptera, Family Coccinellidae, Genus Harmonia and Species Harmonia axyridis.
A common adaption that I have noticed among my 10 observations is the presence of a pair of antennae. It consists of multiple kinds of receptors and helps them sense the environment to find food and detect enemies. This plays a significant role for their habitat fit in and increases their chance of survival (under natural selection). As for lady beetles, they have exceptionally bright colours and distinctive spots as a unique adaption. It makes them unappealing to predators and makes it easier to survive.

Posted on September 23, 2021 05:48 PM by kristiehui kristiehui | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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