Insect adaptations

Second, it is also clear that the pressures and opportunities acting on these industries are not exclusively socioeconomic but also fundamentally ecological. Seasonality, inter-annual variability, and insect adaptations over time pose serious and ongoing problems for chemical producers and formulators these problems have led to increased debt, consolidation, and the pressure for markets in diversified environmental contexts. Nor is the lawn unique in this sense. Indeed, its features parallel those of capitalist agriculture more generally. 

Given the rapid radiation of many specific plant glucosidase-sub-strate systems and the coradiation of specific insect adaptations in the Passiflora-Heliconius coevolutionary interaction, it seems quite reasonable to expect that such a process would occur in other systems. 

Such a strong impact on survivorship or fecundity, and on the fitness of individuals, means exerting strong natural selection on herbivorous insects. This should favor the rapid evolution of insect adaptations which overcome it. This is, of course, a common occurrence in the application of pesticides or the development of resistant crop plant cultivars (11). The supposition that plant defenses select for detoxication adaptations in insects is the foundation of the concept of coevolution (12). 

The supposed area of origin for the Mexican bean beetle (MBB) is the high plateau region of Central America (18) - an area characterized by dally rains and moderate temperatures during the growing season. This is presumably the climate to which this insect adapted in its evolutionary past. Early investigators noted that populations of this beetle were limited to irrigated Phaseolus fields in the southwestern United States (19). 

Liu, Y.-B. and Tabashnik, B.E. (1997). Experimental evidence that refuges delay insect adaptation to Bacillus thuringiensis. Proc. R. Soc. London 264, 605-610. 

Schuler MA, Berenbaum MR (2013) Structure and function of cytochrome P450s in insect adaptation to natural and synthetic toxins insights gained from molecular modeling. J Chem Ecol 39 1232-1245... 

The objective of this chapter is to describe larval digestive efficiency and growth performance of phytophagous insects in relation to the chemical composition of their foodplants, and to discuss various insect adaptations (primarily behavioral and biochemical) which may improve the suitability of plant tissues for larval survival and growth. A physiological efficiency model is presented in relation to ecological and evolutionary interpretations of insect-plant interactions, with particular emphasis on a feeding specialization hypothesis. 

Florey (1966) has discussed the role of carotenoids in the physiology of animals. These pigments often provide protective coloration for animals, particularly insects (adaptive coloration). Carotenoids are also involved in oxygen transfer and serve as electron acceptors for some invertebrates. Moreover, carotenoids are protective to organisms and serve as a radiation shield to filter out ultraviolet light. Carotenoids also play a major role as precursors for enzymes, vitamins, and hormones. 

Modem biological calorimetry differentiates between quantitative and analytical calorimetry. The first is the classical one bound to the determination of thermodynamical data of enthalpy, entropy and heat capacity. The more modem analytical calorimetry looks whether heat producing processes are occurring and with which kind of time profile. This type is of great interest during metamorphosis of insects, adaptation phenomena to environmental factors or periodically repeated activities. Examples of such different applications of analytical calorimetry will be given below. 

Figure 16.13 The known subunit structures of plant. Insect, and animal viruses are of the jelly roll antiparallel p barrel type, described in Chapter 5. This fold, which is schematically illustrated in two different ways, (a) and (b), forms the core of the S domain of the subunit of tomato bushy stunt virus (c). [(b), (c) Adapted from A.J. Olson et al., /. Mol. Biol. 171 61-93, 1983.1...

Andersen et al. (1996) and Andersen (1995) have studied the effect of temperature on the recombinant protein production using a baulovinis/insect cell expression system. In Tables 17.15, 17.16, 17.17, 17.18 and 17.19 we reproduce the growth data obtained in spinner flasks (batch cultures) using Bombyx mori (Bm5) cells adapted to serum-free media (Ex-Cell 400). The working volume was 125 ml and samples were taken twice daily. The cultures were carried out at six different incubation temperatures (22, 26,28, 30 and 32 TT). 

The great interdependence of public health and agriculture can be no better illustrated than by the problem of insecticide residues in food. Compounds, vehicles, and spraying schedules adapted for insect control must be selected by the agriculturalist in such a way as to ensure an acceptable product at harvest. However, once the product is harvested and offered for human food, it becomes the concern of various public health agencies. The health of the agricultural operator who applied the insecticide is also a matter for medical and public health attention. 

Emergency Preparedness Measures adapted to increased incidents of forest fires, insect infestations and the impacts of soil erosion. 

---