Meeting 1229 Minutes

The 1229th meeting of the Cambridge Entomological Club was called to order by President Jacob Dayton at 7:43pm on Tuesday, December 12, 2023. 19 members and guests attended in addition to 7 on Zoom.

Old business:

Treasurer Jay Shetterly reminded members that dues are due: $5 for students, $25 for others, and $50 for a lifetime membership. Donations are also accepted.

Plans for the 150^th anniversary of the club are ongoing. Scott Smyers is looking for members to help organize events in the White Mountains this summer. Plans for a local observance are also underway.

New business:

Four new nominees applied for membership: Daniel Toner, Myra Vidal, Ella Frigyik and Andrew Cameron

Our speaker was Dr. Yui Suzuki of Wellesley College. His talk was entitled“Insects in the Anthropocene”

How can organisms adapt (or not) to climate change and other extreme environmental conditions?

Developmental plasticity is the ability of an organism to give rise to two or more distinct phenotypes in response to environmental change. Genetic assimilation is a process by which an environmentally induced phenotype no longer requires environmental input for the phenotype to develop. Such alternate phenotypes could be crucial to an organism’s survival in the Anthropocene.

Dr. Suzuki studies polyphenism, that is, when developmental plasticity gives rise to multiple phenotypes in an organism. Dr. Suzuki’s lab devised a series of experiments to select for polyphenism, using temperature stress to generate a novel phenotype in caterpillars of Manduca sexta. Key elements in Dr. Suzuki’s work with M. sexta are the juvenile hormone and ecdysone, (ekta-sone) a steroid hormone that controls molting in arthropods and is also responsible for increased melanization. Decreased levels of juvenile hormone in the novel phenotype of M. sexta  turned the normally green caterpillars black. Using selection and heat shocks over many generations, a polyphenic strain of M. sexta  was produced.

An additional insight concerning the potential role of pesticides came in 2020, when some of the caterpillars started to return to their original green coloration. The culprit turned out to be wheat germ used to feed the caterpillars, which contained residues of a pesticide “insect growth regulator”, a source of endocrine disruption. The issue was resolved when the lab changed to organic wheat germ.  To wrap up, Dr. Suzuki showed photos of insects he took while on a brief trip to Japan.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10.