Antipredator Defense as a Limited Resource : Unequal Predation Risk and

INSECTS WITH PARENTAL INSTINCTSMore than two centuries ago, a Swedish scientist named Modeer draw what appeared to be maternal fashion in the acanthosomatid shield bug Elasmucha grisea. He noned that the female did not fly away when an intruding quarry threatened her compact egg mass instead, she remained steadfast and tilted her organic structure towards the object (Tallamy). Unfortunately, this evidence, no matter how well documented, was not enough to exchange countless people of the possibility of insects having parental instincts. The acknowledgement of parental behavior in insects was not a widely accepted idea for a number of years. Many people believed insects were too primitive to care for their teenage and that only when physical conditions became extremely severe were insects capable of expressing paternal abilities. The traditionalistic view of maternal care is that it is an exceptional and relatively recent evolutionary leap forward (Tallamy).Fortunately, the ass umptions made about maternal care in insects do not have to be accepted or rejected based only on faith or an educated animadvert today it is possible for these predictions to be empirically tested so that the selective information may be recorded and analyzed. The following experiment is just 1 example of the various ways in which ideas regarding insects and maternal care may be effectively evaluated.Reginald B. Cocroft, of the Neurobiology and Behavior Department at Cornell University in Ithaca, youthful York, researched insects known as Umbonia crassicornis, or the thornbug treehopper. U. crassicornis offspring thrive in full-grown assemblages on the often exposed stems of host-plants. These offspring are incredibly vulnerable, make them easy targets and subject to intense predatio... ...ymphs unequally. The give distributed her protection equally passim the entire aggregation along the length of the branch.Main PointsLocation in relation to the mother is possibly compe titiveLocation independent of the mother is possibly competitive, but only exploitation competitionSignaling is not competitive for maternal care, it is cooperative and the mother distributes protection along the aggregation equally.WORKS CITEDCocroft, Reginald B. 2002. Antipredator Defense as a Limited Resourse Unequal ravage Risk and Broods of an Insect With Maternal Care. Behavioral Ecology, 13, 1, 125-133.Tallamy, D. W. and C. Schaefer. 1997. Maternal behavior in the Hemiptera Ancestry, Alternatives, and Current Adaptive Value. pp. 94-115, In B. Crespi and J. Choe (eds.). Social Behavior in Insects and Arachnids. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.