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https://stemcats.as.uky.edu/

The purpose of this interactive program is engage in authentic scientific discovery related to behaviors in Drosophila (fruit flies) within larval stages.

This STEMCATS project for spring 2018 is to learn how to quantify animal behavior in a manner which can be reproducible in the index measures. We will focus on Drosophila larvae for our class project but will also examine human and crayfish behaviors. We will construct an ethogram of the various behaviors and try to have this published for other researchers to use around the world.

Too often life science is distilled into disparate facts addressing major biological concepts, but lacking purpose for learning and applying knowledge to real world contexts. The driving principle of this project is to to foster authentic scientific investigation in biological sciences.

LaShay Byrd

Brittany Slabach

Class photos (PDF)

Resources: Papers and web links and power points

BIO199-Spring2018-Syllabus.doc

Background information for these excercises:

Ethology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethology
https://www.britannica.com/science/ethology

Journal of Ethology: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1439-0310

Why use flies ? (PDF 1, 2, 3, 4 flies and human disease )

Optogenetics (MS word, PDF)

Table of which lines activate which type of neurons (PDF, MS Word )

Sample larval behaviors:

Motor neurons:

OK371-ChR2 minus ATR third instar-L1

OK371-ChR2 plus ATR third instar-L1b

Research articles:

Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa
and LPS from Serratia marcescens.
We will make it up in 100 ug/1 ml and mix with cornmeal food to feed
Drosophila larvae and blowflies (the type they put on humans for wound care to eat dead skin).

Resources: Growth and development

Neat web link about Fruit flies http://www.flyfacility.ls.manchester.ac.uk/forthepublic/

1. Potter, S., Krall, R.M., Mayo, S. Johnson, D., Zeidler-Watters, K., and Cooper, R.L. (2016). Population dynamics based on resource availability and founding effects: Live and computational models. The American Biology Teacher 78(5): 396-403, ISSN 0002-7685, electronic ISSN 1938-4211 [PDF].
2. Reproductive potential predicts longevity of female Mediterranvan fruitflies (PDF)
3. Inbreeding effects on standard metabolic rate investigated at cold, benign and hot temperatures in Drosophila melanogaster (PDF)
4. Lifespan and reproduction in Drosophila: New insights from nutritional geometry (PDF)
5. A master thesis: The Influence of Dietary Factors on Reproduction in the Fruit Fly, Drosophila melanogaster (PDF)
6. Dietary live yeast alters metabolic profiles, protein biosynthesis and thermal stress tolerance of Drosophila melanogaster (PDF)
7. Fruit fly links related to growth and reproduction on line (MS word and PDF)
8. Drosophila growth abstracts from SICB 2014 (web site) (MS word and PDF)
9. The duration of life of Drosophila m. in various environments (PDF)
10. Population density effects on longevity revisited (PDF)
11. Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. IV. Data on the Influence of Density of Population on Duration of Life in Drosophila (PDF)
12. Influence of two methods of dietary restriction on life history features and aging of the cricket Acheta domesticus (PDF)
13. Involvement of Redox State in the Aging of Drosophila melanogaster (PDF)
14. Genetics of aging in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster (PDF)
15. Development of the Fruit Fly (PDF)
16. Survival in Oregon-R and shibire mutant of Drosophila melanogaster in response to Temperature (PDF)
17. Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. XIII. The Influence of Different Feeding during the Larval and Imaginal Stages on the Duration of Life of the Imago of Drosophila melanogaster (PDF)
18. On the developmental theory of ageing. II. The effect of developmental temperature on longevity in relation to adult body size in D. melanogaster (PDF)
19. References on Testing Drosophila life-history theory in the field (PDF)
20. Living Science Handout (PDF)
21. Competition Among Immatures Affects Their Adult Fertility: Population Dynamics (PDF)
22. Evolution of Drosphila (PDF)
23. PPT file on population dynamics (PPT)
24. Longevity in Drosophila melanogaster and its Ebony Mutant in the Absence of Food (PDF)
25. High population density and egg cannibalism reduces the efficiency of mass-rearing in euscepes postfasciatus (coleoptera: curculionidae) (PDF)
26. Biodemography of Aging and Age-Specific Mortality in Drosophila melanogaster (PDF)
27. Age-Specific Survivorship and Reproduction in Phlox drummondii (PDF)
28. Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. I. Introductory Discussion of the Duration of Life in Drosophila (PDF)
29. The Effects of Evolution are Local: Evidence from Experimental Evolution in Drosophila (PDF)
30. Experimental Studies on the Duration of Life. II. Hereditary Differences in Duration of Life in Line-Bred Strains of Drosophila (PDF)
31. On the influence of intermittent starvation on the longevity of the imaginal stage of Drosophiia melanogaster (PDF)
32. On the influence of density of population upon the rate of reproduction in Drosophila (PDF)
33. Growth and variation of the larvae of Drosophila m. Alptov 1929 (PDF)