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Thursday 25 August 2016

Evolution in nature - a study of wild crickets

A study of the field cricket in northern Spain, using tagging, infared cameras, cctv and motion sensors to monitor a group of crickets during mating season, so as to understand more about evolution in nature.
http://www.wildcrickets.org/

A few interesting points relating to when and why crickets sing:

  • Good singing is in inheritable trait that is passed on.
  • Crickets need plenty of food when young to become the good singer that they are genetically predisposed to be.
  • Small male crickets need to sing to be able to mate, whereas large males mate more if they don't sing. 

The site also invites participation, watching and tagging videos: http://cricket-tales.exeter.ac.uk/