Biology subjects

Crall, J. D.

Publications and source records attributed to Crall, J. D..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

The BumbleBox: An open-source platform for quantifying behavior in bumblebee colonies

0.O_LIBumblebees (Apini: Bombus) are important pollinators globally and an emerging model system for studying the ecology and evolution of social behavior and effects of environmental stressors on bees. C_LIO_LIBehavioral studies of bumblebees have conventionally relied on labor and time-intensive manual observations. While recent years have seen rapid advances in automated behavioral tracking in social insects, these tracking technologies are often expensive and require extensive programming experience, limiting accessibility and widespread adoption. C_LIO_LIHere we introduce the BumbleBox, an open-source system for automated tracking and behavioral quantification of individual bumblebees that can be built using low-cost consumer components and DIY fabrication (i.e., 3D-printing and laser-cutting). We provide an integrated pipeline for data collection and analysis, including nest arena design, software for automated collection of video data, and the quantification of individual behavior. C_LIO_LIThe BumbleBox system is designed to be (a) accessible, requiring no prior experience with programming or hardware design to operate; (b) scalable, allowing long-term, automated tracking across many units in parallel at low-cost; and (c) modular, allowing for flexible adoption to unique applications in bumblebees and other systems. We validate the use of this system in a widespread bumblebee species (Bombus impatiens) that is both commercially and ecologically important. Finally, we highlight widespread potential applications in quantifying behavior and pollinator health in bumblebees and other social insects, including screening impacts of pesticides and other environmental stressors on social behavior. C_LI

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2019

Wind drives temporal variation in pollinator visitation in a fragmented tropical forest

Wind is a critical factor in the ecology of pollinating insects such as bees. However, the role of wind in determining patterns of bee abundance and floral visitation rates across space and time is not well understood. Orchid bees are an important and diverse group of neotropical pollinators that harvest pollen, nectar and resin from plants. In addition, male orchid bees collect volatile scents that they store in special chambers in their hind legs, and for which the wind-based dispersal of odors may play a particularly crucial role. Here we take advantage of this specialized scent foraging behavior to study the effects of wind on orchid bee visitation at scent sources in a fragmented tropical forest ecosystem. We find that temporal changes in wind speed and turbulence are correlated with visitation to scent stations within sites, while local landscape structure is a strong determinant of spatial variation in visitation across nearby sites. These results suggest that the increased dispersal of attractive scents provided by wind and turbulence outweighs any biomechanical or energetic costs that might deter bees from foraging in these conditions. Overall, our results highlight the significance of wind in the ecology of these important pollinators in neotropical forests.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2017

MAPLE: a Modular Automated Platform for Large-scale Experiments, a low-cost robot for integrated animal-handling and phenotyping

Genetic model system animals have significant scientific value in part because of large-scale experiments like screens, but performing such experiments over long time periods by hand is arduous and risks errors. Thus the field is poised to benefit from automation, just as molecular biology did from liquid-handling robots. We developed a Modular Automated Platform for Large-scale Experiments (MAPLE), a Drosophila-handling robot capable of conducting lab tasks and experiments. We demonstrate MAPLEs ability to accelerate the collection of virgin female flies (a pervasive experimental chore in fly genetics) and assist high-throughput phenotyping assays. Using MAPLE to autonomously run a novel social interaction experiment, we found that 1) pairs of flies exhibit persistent idiosyncrasies in affiliative behavior, 2) these dyad-specific interactions require olfactory and visual cues, and 3) social interaction network structure is topologically stable over time. These diverse examples demonstrate MAPLEs versatility as a general platform for conducting fly science automatically.

bioengineering↗