Monthly Archives: September 2011

Patience is a virtue for invading wasp females

Posted on September 30, 2011 by

In social insects, like honey bees, the queen is usually the only one making babies. All other females are subordinate and sterile.The reason natural selection doesn’t weed out this behavior is thought to be because all the subordinate females are … Continue reading →

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Inbred females have more fun

Posted on September 23, 2011 by

Female red flour beetles (Tribolium castaneum) shouldn’t want to mate more than once. They get enough sperm from a single male to fertilize all their eggs, and mating with multiple males can actually harm them. So why do many red … Continue reading →

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Gametes to spare–two stories for you!

Posted on September 21, 2011 by

I haven’t been doing that much interwebbing lately, but I thought it would be best not to skip the weekly links again. However, I hesitate to call this a link “roundup” seeing as I only have 2 stories for today: … Continue reading →

Posted in Eggs and sperm, Insect reproduction, Sperm competition | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

What mountain climbing does to your sperm

Posted on September 18, 2011 by

Thinking about taking a romantic excursion up in the mountains? If you’re trying to get pregnant, this may not be the best strategy. A study published in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics has linked being at high altitudes with low sperm … Continue reading →

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