TTC Video - Why Insects Matter: Earth's Most Essential Species

TTC Video - Why Insects Matter: Earth's Most Essential Species
.MP4, AVC, 1280x720, 30 fps | English, AAC, 2 Ch | 12h 11m | 10.28 GB
Lecturer: Scott Solomon, PhD Professor, Rice University | Course No. 10150

• Click beetles. Lacking the chemical defenses of some other beetles, this insect uses the element of surprise to get away. By arching its body in a specific way, a hinge-like structure makes a clicking noise as it launches the beetle a foot into the air—25 times its body length.
  
• Dracula ants. This ant has developed the fastest animal movement ever recorded—jaws that snap together at a speed of 200 miles per hour in just over 1 millionth of a second.
  
• Tiger beetles. Imagine running so fast that your brain can't keep up processing the visual information coming your way. Tiger beetles can run 125 body lengths per second! They often have to slow down in order to see what's in front of them—to give their brain time to catch up.
  

• Desert honeypot ants. When workers from rival colonies encounter one another, they line up and extend their legs, making them look as if they are walking on stilts. Based on the number of workers each side recruits, the ants figure out which colony would win if they were to fight. The larger team wins; it's as simple as that.
  
• Stalk-eyed flies. These flies have two long stalks that protrude out from the sides of the head, each of which supports an eye at the end. The longer a male's eyestalk, the better his chances of mating and passing on his genes. Instead of physically fighting, the males gather together to compare their physiques two at a time. The male with the shorter eye stalks simply leaves.
  
• Honeybees. In the wild, honeybees have to find a new place to live each year as the colony grows. But without any real hierarchical structure, how can they avoid fighting over such a momentous decision? Although each colony does have a queen, her only job is to lay eggs—hour after hour, day after day. She does not function as a group leader. To meet their goal, scouts visit possible new home sites and evaluate them using the criteria honeybees care most about—entrance size, location, and volume. These bees return and "tell" their hive-mates about the potential new location via their waggle dance. Eventually, the site that is best suited will end up having more bees "waggling" in its favor than other sites. A completely democratic process in which each waggle counts.
  

• Agriculture. Leafcutter ants are famous for carrying leaves across the forest floor, but they can't digest them on their own. Instead, they feed the leaves to the fungus they tend in their garden, and then eat the fungus, which they can digest.
  
• Pest Control. Some ants fight fungus-garden parasites with antibiotics. Bacteria that grow on the ant's exoskeleton produce antibiotics that help keep parasites at bay.
  
• Ranching. Many ants keep other insects as livestock, protecting them and feeding them. In particular, aphids are often tended by ants because the ants like to eat the sugary liquid that aphids produce as waste. This substance is known as honeydew and it contains not only sugars, but also other nutrients.