(note: all photos come from Wikipedia, and are usable according to the terms of the Wikipedia Copyright guidelines. Clicking on the image will link back to the source image on wikipedia's system.)
So: First off: the creepy-crawlies! (aka: phylum Arthopoda)
10. Apis melifera: The honey bee.
I'm sure no one is surprised that these fascinating little guys made it onto the list, especially with me working directly with them for the last 8 months. But there is reason to make them part of the year's best animals as well: a newly discovered defense mechanism: heat balling. It's long been known that colonies can regulate hive temperatures by either cluster formation or fanning of bees at hive entrances, but this is the first time they have been observed to use thermo-regulation for defense as well. Essentially, they form balls of workers, which cluster around an attacker and cook it to death by the cluster raising it's own metabolism.
The actual journal article describing this effect can be found here.
9. Varroa destructor: The varroa mite.
As a counter-part to the previous post, I present the varroa mite. This little guy is rapidly becoming one of the most serious problems to North American, and soon to be world, production of honey. It is one of the potential contributing factors to this spring's 70% hive loss rate in many parts of the United States. A bulk of the work I did this summer involved determining the growth dynamics and effect on honey production of these guys. I can't claim to love em', but they sure are a nifty organism to investigate. (I wouldn't, however, recommend spending 100+ hours in a basement counting and evaluating the little bastards.)
So I say: three cheers to super-organisms and the critters that parasitize them!
1 comment:
actually, that's "copyright"
I was hoping you'd notice on your own.
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