Nanoscale mesh acts as anti-adhesive surface against particulate contamination in eyes of whiteflies.

In many insects the surface of the eye is nanostructured by arrays of protuberances termed ommatidial gratings which provide the cuticle with anti-reflective, anti-wetting and self-cleaning properties. The hypothesised anti-contamination role of the gratings against dust and pollen results from theoretical predictions on grating geometry and experiments on synthetic replicas of ommatidia surfaces but has not yet been proven in an animal. Whiteflies are biological test beds for anti-contamination surfaces because they deliberately distribute wax particles extruded from abdominal plates over their entire bodies.

Heartworm and seal louse: Trends in prevalence, characterisation of impact and transmission pathways in a unique parasite assembly on seals in the North and Baltic Sea.

The ectoparasitic seal louse, infects harbour () and grey seals () in the North and Baltic Sea. The endoparasitic heartworm parasitizes the right heart and blood vessels of harbour seals. The complete lifecycle of the heartworm is not entirely understood although the seal louse is assumed to serve as vector for its transmission.

Gripping performance in the stick insect Sungaya inexpectata in dependence on the pretarsal architecture.

Insect attachment devices and capabilities have been subject to research efforts for decades, and even though during that time considerable progress has been made, numerous questions remain. Different types of attachment devices are known, alongside most of their working principles, however, some details have yet to be understood. For instance, it is not clear why insects for the most part developed pairs of claws, instead of either three or a single one.

Effects of a FCBP gene polymorphism, location, and sex on Young's modulus of the tenth primary feather in racing pigeons.

Young's modulus (E) is a measure for stiffness of a material and a higher E means a higher stiffness. The respective polymorphism of the feather corneous beta-protein gene causes the replacement of glycine by cysteine. We looked for possible effects of the three FCBP genotypes on E in the 10th primaries of racing pigeons.

Surface chemistry of the ladybird beetle adhesive foot fluid across various substrates.

Nature has coevolved highly adaptive and reliable bioadhesives across a multitude of animal species. Much attention has been paid in recent years to selectively mimic these adhesives for the improvement of a variety of technologies. However, very few of the chemical mechanisms that drive these natural adhesives are well understood.

Resilin Distribution and Sexual Dimorphism in the Midge Antenna and Their Influence on Frequency Sensitivity.

Small-scale bioacoustic sensors, such as antennae in insects, are often considered, biomechanically, to be not much more than the sum of their basic geometric features. Therefore, little is known about the fine structure and material properties of these sensors-even less so about the degree to which the well-known sexual dimorphism of the insect antenna structure affects those properties. By using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), we determined material composition patterns and estimated distribution of stiffer and softer materials in the antennae of males and females of the non-biting midge .

Insect-inspired architecture to build sustainable cities.

Materials, structures, surfaces and buildings of insects are of a great scientific interest, but such basic knowledge about the functional principles of these structures is also highly relevant for technical applications, especially in architecture. Some of the greatest challenges for today's architecture are multifunctionality, energy saving and sustainability - problems that insects have partially solved during their evolution. Entomologists have collected a huge amount of information about the structure and function of such living constructions and surfaces.

The glue produced by for pupa adhesion is universal.

Insects produce a variety of adhesives for diverse functions such as locomotion, mating, and egg or pupal anchorage to substrates. Although they are important for the biology of organisms and potentially represent a great resource for developing new materials, insect adhesives have been little studied so far. Here, we examined the adhesive properties of the larval glue of This glue is made of glycosylated proteins and allows the animal to adhere to a substrate during metamorphosis.

Depth-Sensing Indentation as a Micro- and Nanomechanical Approach to Characterisation of Mechanical Properties of Soft, Biological, and Biomimetic Materials.

Classical methods of material testing become extremely complicated or impossible at micro-/nanoscale. At the same time, depth-sensing indentation (DSI) can be applied without much change at various length scales. However, interpretation of the DSI data needs to be done carefully, as length-scale dependent effects, such as adhesion, should be taken into account.

In slow motion: radula motion pattern and forces exerted to the substrate in the land snail (Mollusca, Gastropoda) during feeding.

The radula is the anatomical structure used for feeding in most species of Mollusca. Previous studies have revealed that radulae can be adapted to the food or the substrate the food lies on, but the real, forces exerted by this organ on substrates and the stresses that are transmitted by the teeth are unknown. Here, we relate physical properties of the radular teeth of (Müller.

Material stiffness variation in mosquito antennae.

The antennae of mosquitoes are model systems for acoustic sensation, in that they obey general principles for sound detection, using both active feedback mechanisms and passive structural adaptations. However, the biomechanical aspect of the antennal structure is much less understood than the mechano-electrical transduction. Using confocal laser scanning microscopy, we measured the fluorescent properties of the antennae of two species of mosquito- Toxorhynchites brevipalpis and Anopheles arabiensis-and, noting that fluorescence is correlated with material stiffness, we found that the structure of the antenna is not a simple beam of homogeneous material, but is in fact a rather more complex structure with spatially distributed discrete changes in material properties.

Surface chemistry of the frog sticky-tongue mechanism.

Frogs capture their prey with a highly specialized tongue. Recent studies indicate this tongue is covered with fibril-forming mucus that acts as a pressure sensitive adhesive. However, no analysis of the interfacial chemistry of frog tongue mucus has been performed.

Facing different predators: adaptiveness of behavioral and morphological traits under predation.

Predation is thought to be one of the main structuring forces in animal communities. However, selective predation is often measured on isolated traits in response to a single predatory species, but only rarely are selective forces on several traits quantified or even compared between different predators naturally occurring in the same system. In the present study, we therefore measured behavioral and morphological traits in young-of-the-year Eurasian perch and compared their selective values in response to the 2 most common predators, adult perch and pike .

Individual consistency and context dependence in group-size preference of Eurasian perch.

Many fish spend a large part of their life in groups. The size of the group influences potential costs and benefits of group living, and depending on context a fish may prefer different group sizes. Group-size preference may also depend on personality, with social individuals expected to prefer larger groups than asocial fish.

The invasive bighead goby Ponticola kessleri displays large-scale genetic similarities and small-scale genetic differentiation in relation to shipping patterns.

Colonization events, range expansions and species invasions leave genetic signatures in the genomes of invasive organisms and produce intricate special patterns. Predictions have been made as to how those patterns arise, but only very rarely, genetic processes can be monitored in real time during range expansions. In an attempt to change that, we track a very recently established invasive population of a fish species, the bighead goby Ponticola kessleri, with high temporal and spatial resolution through 2 years to identify patterns over time.

Scratch resistance of the ventral skin surface in four snake species (Squamata, Serpentes).

Snakes are limbless tetrapods highly specialized for sliding locomotion on various substrates. Their skin is constantly exposed to high friction forces, which promotes abrasion. Snake skin has material and surface specializations, presumably optimized for friction and abrasion resistance.

The antenna of a burrowing dragonfly larva, Onychogomphus forcipatus (Anisoptera, Gomphidae).

The larva of the dragonfly Onychogomphus forcipatus (Anisoptera, Gomphidae) has a burrowing lifestyle and antennae composed of four short and broad segments (scape, pedicel and a two-segmented flagellum). The present ultrastructural investigation revealed that different sensilla and one gland are located on the antenna. There is a great diversity of mechanoreceptors of different kinds.

Anthropogenic hybridization between endangered migratory and commercially harvested stationary whitefish taxa (Coregonus spp.).

Natural hybridization plays a key role in the process of speciation. However, anthropogenic (human induced) hybridization of historically isolated taxa raises conservation issues. Due to weak barriers to gene flow and the presence of endangered taxa, the whitefish species complex is an excellent study system to investigate the consequences of hybridization in conservation.

The functional significance of density and distribution of outgrowths on co-opted contact pairs in biological arresting systems.

Microstructures responsible for temporary arresting of contacting surfaces are widely distributed on surfaces in different organisms. Recent morphological studies show that these structures have different density of outgrowths and not ideal distribution pattern on both complementary parts of the contact. One can suggest that this difference is optimized by natural selection to get stronger mechanical arrest within the system.

Attachment to challenging substrates--fouling, roughness and limits of adhesion in the northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus).

Northern clingfish use a ventral suction disc to stick to rough substrates in the intertidal zone. Bacteria, algae and invertebrates grow on these surfaces (fouling) and change the surface properties of the primary substrate, and therefore the attachment conditions for benthic organisms. In this study, we investigate the influence of fouling and surface roughness on the adhesive strength of northern clingfish, Gobiesox maeandricus.

Insect wet steps: loss of fluid from insect feet adhering to a substrate.

Reliable attachment ability of insect adhesive pads is proposed to be due to pad secretion. It has been shown that surface roughness strongly reduces adhesion forces of insect pads. This effect has been explained by decreased contact area and rapid fluid absorption from the pad surface by rough surfaces.

Epidermis architecture and material properties of the skin of four snake species.

On the basis of structural and experimental data, it was previously demonstrated that the snake integument consists of a hard, robust, inflexible outer surface (Oberhäutchen and β-layer) and softer, flexible inner layers (α-layers). It is not clear whether this phenomenon is a general adaptation of snakes to limbless locomotion or only to specific conditions, such as habitat and locomotion. The aim of the present study was to compare the structure and material properties of the outer scale layers (OSLs) and inner scale layers (ISLs) of the exuvium epidermis in four snake species specialized to live in different habitats: Lampropeltis getula californiae (terrestrial), Epicrates cenchria cenchria (generalist), Morelia viridis (arboreal) and Gongylophis colubrinus (sand-burrowing).