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1. Defensive Upchucking: A Key to Caterpillar Survival |
Vomiting is not as straightforward an activity as one might think. Humans generally throw up to empty ourselves of whatever nasty things we may have ingested. Caterpillars, however, employ this tactic to avoid being eaten.
Jacqualine Grant is fascinated by caterpillars, and thus she chose their regurgitation practices as a subject for her PhD dissertation on the gut morphology of Lepidoptera larvae.
An assistant professor in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences, Grant discovered that not all caterpillar barfing is the same, contrary to popular belief among entomologists, who often ruminate on such matters. Caterpillars have a variety of defensive weapons in their arsenal, and the more potent the weaponry, the less they rely on vomiting to gross out predators.
“They have lots of defenses,” Grant explains. “There’s a Brazilian caterpillar that, if you brush against it, you die.” Others just do their best to look inedible. “There’s a caterpillar that looks like a bird dropping, and it’s so good at it, it doesn’t need to throw up.”
Grant looked at 36 species of caterpillars (though not the Brazilian one, whose victims perish from massive internal hemorrhaging) and found that all butterfly and moth larvae are not created equal. “If you rely primarily on regurgitation for your defense, one part of your digestive tract, the crop, is enlarged, so you can be a more efficient puker,” she says. “The best pukers have the biggest crops.”
The panic moth caterpillar, for instance, is extremely well adapted for puking. “They throw up all this nasty stuff on spiders, and the spiders go away,” Grant says. Monarch butterflies, however, don’t need this anatomical adaptation because predators learn quickly to keep a safe distance. “They have a horrible flavor,” says Grant.
Her team also discovered why the larvae of cabbage butterflies, which make their living devouring vegetables around the world, are so wildly successful. They extract a compound called pinoresinol from their favorite foods (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) and secrete it on tiny hairs covering their bodies. Pinoresinol, in combination with other chemicals, repels ants and, presumably, most other creatures interested in cabbage worm for dinner, allowing the larvae to forage through gardens unmolested.
Grant herself seems immune to the caterpillar ick factor. “I just like them,” she says of her research subjects. “I think they are fascinating and beautiful. Even the spines are elegant and symmetrical.”
Grant has revealed the fascinating and beautiful in another oft-disparaged group of creatures: young salamanders and tadpoles. She was commissioned by the US Geological Survey to paint portraits of all the larval salamander and pollywog species found in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Her 36 watercolors appear on a USGS poster, which is displayed in the atrium of the Noblet Building.
She has been painting amphibians and reptiles for seven years, since she attended a workshop as a graduate student at Cornell University. One of Grant’s early efforts, a toad atop a toadstool, was auctioned by the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles and raised more money than any other item, she reports, still surprised at its success.
Grant studies amphibians as well as paints them, and is beginning two studies on frogs, one on the genetics of chorus frogs in South Dakota’s Black Hills, the other on the effects of road salt on native frog species. Other projects will address earthworm population genetics in the Huron Mountains and the effect of deer scat on hemlock groves.
Grant’s interests have made her a popular speaker, particularly with children. For three classes of second graders in Ithaca, N.Y., she once brought in a salamander, a toad, a pair of sand boas and a corn snake. “They loved it,” she remembers. “I fed the salamander crickets. The students were all lined up to see the feeding take place, and they got so excited they collapsed in a huge heap.”
Another public event ended on a more serene note. “I took about 100 people up to a local preserve to hear frogs chorusing in the spring,” Grant says. “Just as the sun set, the green frogs were finishing and the peepers started. As the sun went down, the gray tree frogs started. And then, in the background, the pickerel frogs started to sing.
“It was a lovely evening.” |
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2. Student Activities Collecting Donations for Students Affected by Recent Fire |
On behalf of Alpha Xi Zeta, Student Activities is collecting funds for the two houses damaged by the recent fire on Houghton Avenue. If you would like to contribute, an account has been set up at the Michigan Tech Credit Union to help students replace their personal items and assist them through these times. The account is called Alpha Xi Xeta/Houghton Avenue Fire Fund, and its number is 1260600. If you cannot make it to the credit union, please feel free to drop off donations at the Student Activities Office, Memorial Union 112, and they will make sure the donations get to the credit union.
Other fundraisers will be occurring throughout the summer and into the fall as well. |
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3. Flags Flown at Half Staff Friday |
Flags will be flown at half staff Friday, July 13, in honor of Army Private First Class Joseph A. Miracle, of Ortonville, who died on July 5 while on active duty in Afghanistan.
Private Miracle, 22, died from wounds sustained from enemy small arms and indirect fire in the Watapor Valley of Kunar Province. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade, Vicenza, Italy. |
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4. Archives Photo Exhibit Featured in Statewide Food Celebration |
The Michigan Tech Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections will host an exhibit of historical photographs as part of the Key Ingredients Michigan Foodways visit to the Copper Country.
Key Ingredients Michigan Foodways is a year-long celebration of food. Key Ingredients is a Smithsonian exhibit depicting America's food culture. Michigan Foodways is a Michigan State University Museum exhibit examining Michigan’s rich agriculture, its diverse ethnic cuisines and its culinary traditions. The many exhibits and presentations anchoring the event will tour Michigan for a year and arrive in Calumet Friday, July 13, at the Keweenaw Heritage Center in the former St. Anne’s Church.
The Archives exhibit, “Scrounging for Food: Copper Country Foodways during the Great Depression,” features historical photographs and artifacts documenting how Keweenaw residents produced food during the lean years of the Great Depression.
The exhibit kicks off Monday, July 16, at 7 p.m. in the Archives’ reading room in the J. R. Van Pelt Library with a talk by Archivist Erik Nordberg and will be open through Labor Day.
Illustrated with dozens of historical photographs, Nordberg's presentation will chart the transformation of the county into one of the nation’s premier potato-growing regions during the 1930s and 1940s. At its height, more than 300,000 bushels of potatoes were exported from Houghton County, utilizing a community of growers, numerous potato warehouses and a niche market for high-quality table stock potatoes in midwestern cities.
Several members of the campus community are involved with Key Ingredients Michigan Foodways, including project director Kim Hoagland (Social Sciences) and program chair Julie Blair (Library Archives).
“It’s not just about the food, but about the stories that go along with the food,” said Hoagland. “Local organizations and people worked hard to not just highlight a certain food but to dig a little deeper for that food’s significance in a larger scheme.”
The Calumet exhibits will be open to the public, free of charge, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily July 14-Aug. 26. Michigan Tech historian Larry Lankton (Social Sciences) will speak on “Keweenaw Foodways” at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 14, at the Keweenaw Heritage Center. Lankton’s talk will examine the development of regular supply lines for food products into the remote copper mining district in the 1850s and 1860s.
All events are free and open to the public. For further information, contact the Michigan Tech Archives at 487-2505 or via e-mail at copper@mtu.edu .
To learn more about Key Ingredients Michigan Foodways, visit
www.michiganfoodways.org . For an updated calendar of events, visit www.keyingredients.org . |
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5. New Funding |
Andrew Storer (SFRES) has received $81,331 from the US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, for "Living with Emerald Ash Borer: Refinement of Trap Tree Technologies."
Alex Mayer (GMES) has received $38,666 from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for "Huron Creek Watershed Management Plan." |
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6. In the News |
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Two alumni, Kyle and Jen Rubin, are featured in a recent edition of "Windsurfing" magazine. The couple is profiled in the "Leading Edge" column; Kyle is a windsurfer, Jen is a semi-pro water skier. |
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7. Michigan Tech Notables |
Ann Brady, scientific and technical communication/arts (STC/A) program director and assistant professor, received an early career/best paper award from the American Society for Engineering Education for “Interdisciplinary International Senior Design: How Service Learning Projects in Developing Countries Support ABET Accreditation,” in the environmental engineering division.
The award, given June 26 on the moonlit beaches of Waikiki, was accepted by co-authors Linda Phillips, international senior design director and lecturer in civil and environmental engineering, and undergraduate Karina Jousma (STC), who presented the paper during the society’s annual conference in Honolulu.
“I am deeply honored to receive an award from an engineering society,” said Brady. “It demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary and student-professor working relationships.”
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8. Free Desks in Facilities Management |
Facilities Management is giving away two Steelcase desks. They both have six drawers and a walnut-grain, laminate top. One has a black steel bottom and right wing attachment, and the other has a brown steel bottom and measures 3 feet by 5 feet.
Email Sue Sergey at sjsergey@mtu.edu if you are interested in these items.
As always, university property may only be transferred to other
departments. It may not be given or sold to individuals.
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