Worm towers in orchards: sensational detection in nature!
Worm towers in orchards: sensational detection in nature!
In a remarkable discovery, researchers from the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology for the first time have documented natural worm towers in orchards. As reports campus.uni-konstanz.de , these are the nematodes that are considered the most numerous animals on earth. These towers, which consist of many individuals, are formed in the event of a lack of food and competing pressure. So far, such structures had only been observed under laboratory conditions.Ryan Greenway, a researcher who was involved in the investigation, used a digital microscope to analyze the behavior of the worm towers. The towers consisted exclusively of a certain nematode species in the larval stage, known as the "permanent larva". Interestingly, the observations prove that the worms in the towers can act in a coordinated wave and react to touch. They also show the ability to replace surfaces and capture insects such as fruit flies.
The importance of discovery
The detection of the natural occurrence of worm towers is of great importance because it opens up new perspectives for researching group behavior in animals. The researchers plan to better understand how collective locomotion develops in nature and what genetic factors influence these behaviors. After all, through their genetic variations, nematodes have a significant influence on the types of behavioral patterns that are observed in nature, such as mpg.de
The investigation of genetic mutations and their influence on the behavior of nematodes is a central point of current research. The interaction of behavioral phenotypes is analyzed on both individual and group level. The 1 mm long thread worm Caenorhabtis Elegans, also known as C. Elegans, often acts as a model organism for such studies due to its simple nervous system with 302 neurons. This research aims to identify differences in the behavior of different nematode strains and to understand their complex behaviors.
behavioral dynamics of C. Elegans
In addition to the newly discovered worm towers, the dynamics of C. Elegans's locomotion behavior were examined in more detail in another study. As pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov , the locomotion of C. Elegans is traditionally categorized in two types: swimming in liquids and crawls on festivals. However, recent knowledge shows a flowing transition form between these types of locomotion, which are controlled by a common movement frame. This emphasizes the complexity of the control system of the worm and offers new insights into its locomotion mechanisms.The ongoing research and the variety of data collected about nematodes and its behaviors illustrate the relevance of these organisms in biological research and help to expand our ideas about collective behavior in nature.
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| Ort | Universität Konstanz, 78464 Konstanz, Deutschland |
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