Inner clock may lead monarch butterflies
By TRACI CARL, Associated Press Writer
Scientists have discovered genetic information that helps explain how monarch butterflies find their way from Canada to winter nesting grounds in the mountains of Mexico. The study, published online Tuesday in the PLoS Biology Journal and the Public Library of Science, found that the butterflies' biological clocks help them use the sun as a compass.
Dr. Steven Reppert, the University of Massachusetts neurobiologist who led the study's seven-member research team, said monarch butterflies have unique circadian clocks, which regulate daily activities like sleep and hunger.
The researchers genetically mapped the molecular underpinings of the butterflies' circadian clocks and found cryptochrome proteins common in both insects and mammals. Reppert believes these proteins enable the monarchs to navigate using the sun's position in the sky.
"A butterfly's brain is no bigger than the head of a pin, and yet it has this incredible capability. So we really want to understand that," Reppert said.
When understood completely, the find might help shed light on the biological clocks of humans, and in turn aid research into everything from sleep disorders to depression.
Lincoln Brower, a monarch expert at the University of Florida and Sweet Briar College in Sweet Briar, Virginia, said the discovery was significant because it shows that "studying the monarch butterfly is producing crucial information about the nature of life."
The research was funded in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Czech Republic's Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.
A few more butterfly articles
Butterflies trick ants into raising young Thu Jan 3, 1:58 PM ET
Call it the cuckoo of butterflies. Like the well-known birds, the Alcon blue butterfly has found a way to get others to raise its offspring. Researchers in Denmark report that the large blue butterfly has managed to produce larvae with a chemical coating similar to that of the local Myrmica rubra ants.
The butterflies deposit their larvae on marsh gentian plants where exploring ants find them, identify the chemical coating, and take the butterfly larvae back to the ant colony and feed them until they grow up and leave, the researchers report in Thursday's edition of the journal Science.
The researchers, led by David R. Nash of the University of Copenhagen, added that elsewhere in Europe the Alcon butterfly uses a different ant species to raise its young.
Interesting Mellie, especially the ant trick.
I've read where ants will protect cats from wasps just by being around because ants hate wasps and will attack them quickly. So, I wonder if the ants on mw, that are attracted to the aphids, would protect the Monarch cats. It's an interesting relationship if they do. It would still be hard to leave those nasty aphids on the plants, ick!
I just love that even though we think we know so much about science, there is still so much more to learn. And I'm always glad to see there's butterfly research going on.
Melanie
Very cool articles Melanie! Thanks so much for sharing them with us! Nature never ceases to amaze and fascinate me!! Loved the ant trick. I think all cats need to do that! LOL!