Other (Animal) Blog Posts

How we turned our office into a living lab with a green roof

Green roofs are becoming more and more popular around the world. These living roofs transform buildings into ecological systems that benefits its surrounding environment.

Screening plants for resistance to insect pests

EntoLab is a computerized system for automated screening of plants for resistance to sucking insects. It can accurately screen many different plant lines in a high-throughput manner.

Nearly impossible to video track: small shrimp

Gammarus shrimps are exceptionally difficult to track, but Noldus solved the puzzle, resulting in interesting insights into its ecology.

Studying shrimp feeding behavior and why it’s important for aquaculture

Shrimp is a popular dish, and these crustaceans are a very large part of commercial aquaculture. Especially Pacific white-leg shrimp, as they grow fast and are able to adapt to a wide range of environments.

Father’s genes affect their offspring’s future success

The early life environment of male bank voles can influence their offspring significantly. Both social stress and nutrient supply have an effect on the chances of survival for two generations.

Identification of thrips resistance in Arabidopsis

Maarten Jongsma explains how he used EntoLab to facilitate insect choice assays and automate the acquisition and analysis of movement tracks. Two Arabidopsis accessions were tested for resistance to western flower thrips.

Screening insecticides for efficacy or tolerance

Maarten Jongsma and colleagues use EntoLab to detect changes in insect behavior that provide a sensitive method for identifying and quantifying resistance development. They tested this approach with pyrethrins against aphids.

High-throughput screening of beneficial insects

Jessica de Bruijn used EntoLab for automated high-throughput screening of parasitic wasps in individual olfactory 2-choice tests. Various behavioral parameters were measured to compute a memory retention index.

Identification of an aphid resistance gene in Arabidopsis

Karen Kloth used EntoLab in her research on the genetic basis of plant resistance to aphids. Genome-wide association mapping of aphid behavior on 350 natural Arabidopsis accessions led to the discovery of a new gene.

The Internet of Things, LoRa, 5G, and measuring behavior

New techniques for connecting sensors will provide opportunities for researchers measuring behavior.

CFI Exceptional Opportunities Fund – COVID-19

The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has issued an Exceptional Opportunities Fund (EOF) in the fight against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, known as COVID-19.

Homology and analogy in behavioral neuroscience

The point of this blog is to encourage you, as researchers, to ‘double think’, which is to say think like a scientist and think like an animal.