GMU:DIY Biolab “Driver’s License”/Interspecies communication

Interspecies communication

Cooperative communication

Or interspecies collaboration.

• Francine "Penny" Patterson, PhD, started working with Koko, a lowland gorilla, in 1975
• Lisa Jevbratt (2009) Interspecies Collaboration – Making Art Together with Nonhuman Animals, http://jevbratt.com/writing/jevbratt_interspecies_collaboration.pdf

Parasitic communication

Blue and great tits compete for resources such as food and nesting cavities by for example blue tits imitating great tits

Experiment

Fruit flies

Also /Drosophila melanogaster/. Drosophila is typically used in research because it can be readily reared in the laboratory. It is one of the most widely used and genetically best-known of all eukaryotic organisms.

Drosophila breeds quickly, and lays many eggs. It is a common pest in homes, restaurants, and other places where food is served. The lifespan of Drosophila is about 30 days at 29 °C. The shortest development time (egg to adult), 7 days, is achieved at 28 °C. With decreased or increased temperature the development time increases. Females lay some 400 eggs (embryos), about five at a time, into rotting fruit or other suitable material such as decaying mushrooms. The eggs, which are about 0.5 mm long, hatch after 12–15 hours at 25 °C.

Medium

http://www.anapsid.org/fruitfly.html

RECIPE #1 Anthony Hundt (an old recipe of mine)

• 8 bananas
• 1/4 cup sugar
• rolled oats (oatmeal)
• 1 packet bakers yeast

Put banana and sugar in blender and mix until the banana is liquified. Mix in oatmeal until it becomes firm, but still moist. Put mixture in wide mouth quart canning jars. Add a few granules of bakers yeast to the surface and add about 30 fruit flies. Cap the jars with a paper towel folded in fourths held on with a rubber band. Substitution with other types of fruit also works.

References

• Lisa Jevbratt (2009) Interspecies Collaboration – Making Art Together with Nonhuman Animals, http://jevbratt.com/writing/jevbratt_interspecies_collaboration.pdf