search articles:     from the issue of October 5, 2006           Wagner Lab probes cricket interactions Research on call  BY TROY FEDDERSON, UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS Research Focus     CRICKET CHECK - Bill Wagner, associate professor of biological sciences examines a male cricket in his Manter Hall lab. Wagner has studied the variable field cricket at UNL for 12 years. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Communications. This is a Scarlet feature highlighting the variety of research projects at UNL. Submit projects for this series to tfedderson2@unl.edu or 472-8515. The basement corridors of Manter Hall are alive with the call of insect love. Moving under a red light it cannot detect, a female variable field cricket from California skitters across the floor of a specialized booth toward the call of a male counterpart. Observed through a pair of windows and documented on video, the cricket works toward the sound and climbs atop the speaker broadcasting the call. Her time in a painted circle - centered under the speaker - is recorded for study. "They climb on top of the speakers and sit there a lot," said Amber Trowbridge, a sophomore chemistry major who works as a research assistant in the Wagner Cricket Lab. But, the females don't always saunter to the speaker circle. Studying evolution and reproductive behavior, Bill Wagner, professor of biological sciences, uses a variety of cricket calls to determine why females are attracted to certain male songs. He has been researching cricket attraction for 12 years at UNL - the last eight in Manter, the previous four in Lyman Hall. "What we do is basic research to better understand simple biological processes," said Wagner. "There are no real applications for the type of research we do. It is knowledge for the sake of knowledge." The study has determined that chirp speed is a prime attraction for female crickets. Wagner said male field crickets provide beneficial products in seminal fluid. Furthermore, studies in the Wagner lab have determined that male crickets with certain song types increase female egg output. "The females prefer chirps that are longer in duration and repeated at high rates," Wagner said. "Males with those chirp characteristics provide more beneficial products to the females." Wagner's research grew from a childhood creature fascination. Among his first sources of study were harvester ants. He recalled digging up colonies of the ants, transporting them home and establishing his own, in-house colonies. "My parents really weren't too happy about that," Wagner said, recalling a couple of ant breakouts. "I've always been interested in why animals do what they do. Their behavior is fascinating." Completing his undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, Wagner studied frogs and birds. He transitioned to frogs and fish in graduate school at the University of Texas. However a drought that stymied his doctoral study for more than a year convinced Wagner to transition to a creature that could be easily studied in the lab. "Frogs were great in the field, but a nightmare in the lab because they often won't call and it's really hard to breed them," Wagner said. "But crickets are readily available and amenable to lab studies. They are easy to breed and behave perfectly." Wagner's field crickets all hail from southern and central California. The lab's cricket population is controlled through documented breeding. Wagner also gathers crickets during summer trips to California and receives others via mail order. During the summer trips into the field, Wagner also studies how a parasitological fly hones in on cricket calls. The study examines how the predation affects the evolution of the crickets. "The flies land near the cricket and shoot live larvae onto the male cricket," Wagner said. "The larvae attach to the cricket, burrow in, feed and, in seven to 10 days, the flies burst out. It's like in the Alien movies."   INSECT PREP - Andrew Smith, a senior psychology major, prepares containers for a new shipment of crickets. Smith completed a two-year UCARE research project in the Wagner Cricket Lab in the 2005-06 school year. The study, which examined if female crickets penalize male crickets who do not produce favored chirps that are long in duration and repeated at a high rate, was presented by Smith at a summer conference. Photo by Troy Fedderson/University Communications.   The Wagner Cricket Lab provides research opportunities for four graduate and three undergraduate students. One undergrad, Andrew Smith, finished a two-year UCARE project with the lab in the spring. Smith's research project examined why males provide the benefits to females, and if the female crickets actually punish males who do not provide the benefit. He provided preliminary results of the research at a summer conference. "Females do not mate once, instead they mate many times with that male or other males on any given night," Wagner said. "So, we're trying to figure out why males provide benefits to females. Especially when you consider there is no guarantee their genetic material will carry on to the next generation." While Wagner's research continues to examine how chirps influence cricket breeding, he is also studying why some cricket pairs will not mate. He also plans to study how spider predation affects cricket breeding, specifically in areas of California with high Black Widow populations. "Why does a male produce a certain type of song? Why are females attracted to specific songs? And what are the costs and benefits to the males and females in their mating preferences," Wagner asked. "These are all basic, fundamental biology questions and they continue to fascinate me." Variable Field Cricket Called the "Variable Field Cricket" as body color can range from light tan to black. Crickets in Bill Wagner's lab are collected from sites in southern and south-central California. They are used to study evolution and basic reproductive behavior. * Head – Location of brain, two compound eyes, mouth parts and antennae. * Thorax – Middle part of body where legs and wings are attached. * Walking Legs – Four short, front legs used for walking. * Jumping Legs – Long, hindmost pair of cricket’s six legs. * Abdomen – Segmented tail area that contains heart, reproductive organs and most of the digestive system. * Gender Distinction – Female crickets have an ovipositor, used to lay eggs, located at the end of the abdomen, between two cerci (sensory organs). GO TO: ISSUE OF OCTOBER 5 NEWS HEADLINES FOR OCTOBER 5 Research on call Construction begins on new virology center Damuth helps guide undergrads toward prominent scholarships Ghormley doll quilts on display through March Stitched in history Faculty respond favorably to General Education objectives Verbatem 732589S36257X