The digger wasp tackles complex questions to feed its offspring
"You don't need billions of neurons to make quite complex decisions. Perhaps insects have solved the same problems in different, simpler ways to humans and other vertebrates." This almost vexing remark for the human species was how Jeremy Field, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Exeter, England, responded by email to one of our questions about a study published on May 9 in Current Biology. This work, of which he is the lead author, was conducted on a species of digger wasp, Ammophila pubescens.
The researcher and his colleagues observed the females, who have the unique trait of digging holes in the sand to make a nest to lay a single egg, and then feeding the larva until it transforms into a chrysalis. Each wasp can nurture several nests. Field insisted that the experiment take place in the natural environment, while "most studies of insect memory [and] learning have focused on showing that insects can learn to associate different cues (smell, time of day, location) with food rewards − studies carried out almost entirely in the lab in unnatural situations like mazes, honey feeders etc."
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France 24
2 days ago
- France 24
Arctic warming spurs growth of carbon-soaking peatlands
Peatlands are the largest terrestrial store of carbon, locking away twice as much heat-trapping CO2 from the atmosphere in their waterlogged soils as all the world's forests. These carbon-rich reservoirs, composed of partially decayed organic matter, only cover three percent of Earth's surface, and generally fade out in the far north where harsh weather limits plant growth. But warmer temperatures caused by climate change have improved growing conditions for plants in the Arctic, and satellite data has shown a general "greening" of this frosty region. Using drones, satellite imagery and on-the-ground observations, an international team of scientists assessed peatlands in the European and Canadian Arctic to see if they had benefited from warmer climes. They found strong evidence that peatlands "have likely undergone lateral expansion over the last 40 years" in the Arctic, which is the fastest warming region on Earth. "The permafrost thaws a little, provides a water source for vegetation, and surface vegetation recovers. In this study, we specifically see a lateral expansion," Michelle Garneau, a professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal, and co-author of the study, told AFP. The most marked change was observed where summer temperatures have risen the most, such as in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. "All these new vegetated surfaces that didn't exist three decades ago are currently actively absorbing carbon," Garneau added. This suggests Arctic peatlands "are an increasingly important natural carbon sink, at least in the near term", said study co-author Karen Anderson, a professor from the University of Exeter, which led the research. But how they respond to climate change in future is "still highly uncertain", said the study published in the peer-reviewed journal Communications Earth and Environment. Recent modelling suggests that northern peatlands "may become a carbon source from mid-century" as they dry out and permafrost thaws, the study said. They are also at risk from wildfires, which release masses of stored up carbon at once. "If temperatures continue to rise, we are likely to see changes in rainfall, and we are not sure how sustainable new or existing peatlands will be," said Anderson. More peatlands also means more natural emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas far more effective at trapping heat than CO2.
LeMonde
25-05-2025
- LeMonde
The digger wasp tackles complex questions to feed its offspring
"You don't need billions of neurons to make quite complex decisions. Perhaps insects have solved the same problems in different, simpler ways to humans and other vertebrates." This almost vexing remark for the human species was how Jeremy Field, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Exeter, England, responded by email to one of our questions about a study published on May 9 in Current Biology. This work, of which he is the lead author, was conducted on a species of digger wasp, Ammophila pubescens. The researcher and his colleagues observed the females, who have the unique trait of digging holes in the sand to make a nest to lay a single egg, and then feeding the larva until it transforms into a chrysalis. Each wasp can nurture several nests. Field insisted that the experiment take place in the natural environment, while "most studies of insect memory [and] learning have focused on showing that insects can learn to associate different cues (smell, time of day, location) with food rewards − studies carried out almost entirely in the lab in unnatural situations like mazes, honey feeders etc."
Euronews
27-02-2025
- Euronews
Computer simulations show collapse of vital Atlantic current that warms Europe unlikely this century
The nightmare scenario of Atlantic Ocean currents collapsing, with weather running amok and plunging Europe into a deep freeze, looks unlikely this century, a new study concludes. In recent years, studies have raised the alarm about the slowing and potential abrupt shutdown of the Atlantic end of the ocean conveyor belt system. It transports rising warm water north and sinking cool water south and is a key factor in global weather systems. A possible climate change-triggered shutdown of what's called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or AMOC could play havoc with global rain patterns, dramatically cool Europe while warming the rest of the world and raising sea levels on America's East Coast, scientists predict. It's the scenario behind the 2004 fictionalized disaster movie 'The Day After Tomorrow,' which portrays a world where climate change sparks massive storms, flooding and an ice age. Scientists say this should be a 'reassuring' finding Scientists at the United Kingdom's Met Office and the University of Exeter used simulations from 34 different computer models of extreme climate change scenarios to see if the AMOC would collapse this century, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Nature. No simulation showed a total shutdown before 2100, said lead author Jonathan Baker, an oceanographer at the Met Office. This is no greenlight for complacency. The AMOC is very likely to weaken this century and that brings its own major climate impacts. Jonathan Baker Lead author and oceanographer at the Met Office It could happen later, though, he said. The currents have collapsed in the distant past. Still, the computer simulations should be 'reassuring" to people, Baker said. 'But this is no greenlight for complacency,' Baker warned. 'The AMOC is very likely to weaken this century and that brings its own major climate impacts.' How is global warming changing the Atlantic current? The Atlantic current flows because warm water cools as it reaches the Arctic, forming sea ice. That leaves salt behind, causing the remaining water to become more dense, sinking and pulled southward. But as climate change warms the world and more freshwater flows into the Arctic from the melting Greenland ice sheet, the Arctic engine behind the ocean conveyor belt slows down. Previous studies predict it stopping altogether with one of them saying it could happen within a few decades. But Baker said the computer models and basic physics predict that a second motor kicks in along the Southern Ocean that surrounds Antarctica. The winds there pull the water back up to the surface, called upwelling, where it warms, Baker said. It's not as strong, but it will likely keep the current system alive, but weakened, through the year 2100, he said. Baker's focus on the pulling up of water from the deep instead of just concentrating on the sinking is new and makes sense, providing a counterpoint to the studies saying collapse is imminent, said Oregon State University climate scientist Andreas Schmittner, who wasn't part of the research. Those Southern Ocean winds pulling the deep water up act 'like a powerful pump keeps the AMOC running even in the extreme climate change scenarios,' Baker said. As the AMOC weakens, a weak Pacific version of it will likely develop to compensate a bit, the computer models predicted. How is an AMOC shutdown defined? If the AMOC weakens but doesn't fully collapse, many of the same impacts - including crop losses and changes in fish stock - likely will still happen, but not the big headline one of Europe going into a deep freeze, Baker said. Scientists measure the AMOC strength in a unit called Sverdrups. The AMOC is now around 17 Sverdrups, down two from about 2004 with a trend of about 0.8 decline per decade, scientists said. One of the debates in the scientific world is the definition of an AMOC shutdown. Baker uses zero, but other scientists who have warned about the shutdown implications, use about 5 Sverdrups. Three of Baker's 34 computer models went below 5 Sverdrups, but not to zero. That's why Levke Caesar and Stefan Rahmstorf, physicists at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research and authors of an alarming 2018 study about the potential shutdown, said this new work doesn't contradict theirs. It's more a matter of definitions. 'An AMOC collapse does not have to mean 0 (Sverdrups) overturning and even if you would want to follow that definition one has to say that such a strong AMOC weakening comes with a lot (of) impacts,' Caesar wrote in an email. 'The models show a severe AMOC weakening that would come with severe consequences.'
