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Adelaide - April 26, 2000 - Thrips are a tiny insect which show fascinating levels of social behaviour, says Dr David Morris, who joined CSIRO Entomology this week as a new postdoctoral fellow in the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC). "This behaviour includes nurture of their young and construction of specific homes within which to raise their families. To help defend these the adults commonly have bizarre spines and teeth that they use as weapons," he says. The new appointment at CSIRO Entomology promises to reveal insights into the evolution of social behaviour, through the study of thrips. The position is funded by the Australian Biological Resources Study. "Dr Morris joins CSIRO to work with Dr Laurence Mound, a world authority on thrips, to help write a book concerning the evolution and diversity of the thrips", says Dr Rob Floyd, leader of CSIRO Entomology's biodiversity program. "Thrips are a particularly important group of insects that are associated with Acacia trees across much of Australia. The plant genus Acacia includes about 1200 species, more than any other plant genus in Australia, and these support more than 200 species of thrips." Thrips are also one of the few insect groups to have developed social behaviours. "Some species of thrips are pests of crops in Australia," says Dr Floyd, "Pests are an important focus for our research, but we also have much to learn about the evolutionary processes that have given rise to situations such as sociality or pest behaviour." "I have been working collaboratively with CSIRO on thrips for some time," says Dr Morris, "as part of an international research program involving scientists from Canada, from Flinders University and from CSIRO." "My two year appointment to ANIC funded by ABRS will provide a unique opportunity to really come to grips with much of the information we have collected during the work." "I am particularly keen to try to identify the causes of biological diversity in outback Australia, including the interactions between plants, insects, soils and climate, over millions of years of isolation from the rest of the world." Dr Morris's PhD studies at Flinders University, Adelaide, included extensive research using molecular methods at the Evolutionary Biology Unit at the South Australian Museum.
TERRADAILY.COM
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