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No guys?

I read in Savage Garden, I think it was about aphids, and D'Amato said the female were born pregnant and that's why they multiply so fast.

Now that's nice and dandy (or not...), but what are the males used for then?!?  Just taking up space?
 
That's a loaded question!
 
Actually, males are used. Aphids have taken advantage of asexual and sexual reproduction. Early in the summer, eggs hatch and only females emerge. They reproduce asexually rapidly to colonize plants that they feast on. Sometimes babies emerge with already a young inside them. Later on in the summer when their food supplies run low, they produce aphids (still females) with wings to fly to other food sorces (cabbages I believe). Eggs are layed then. When late summer comes, males and females hatch from the eggs. The males reproduce and die, and the females lay eggs able to survive through winter, and the process repeats.

This way, they insure the easiness of asexual reproduction and the genetic advantage of sexual reproduction. So males are just used for genetic vareation. Correct me if I'm wrong
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I have also noticed that none of the aphids (or at least very little) are caught by droseras that they attack. Zongyi
 
Oh I see!
So... aphids could techically live completely without males then?
...But how can there be males at all? Females do not carry the gene to create a male, they need a male to provide it, and since there are only females until they decide to go by sexual reproduction... there are still no males created up to that point, so how?

Well, aphids are pretty small, I guess they can just move between the sticky hairs, effectively avoiding the goo. Too bad.


Jim, loaded question you say? Guess it is, since there seems to be mostly guys on the forum, and so far, I've been answered by two guys =D!

Zongy, I hear a lot about you, Carl talks a lot about you and how your thumbs are wonderfully green =). Nice to meet you!
 
I think you're right about everything except this:
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]they produce aphids (still females) with wings to fly to other food sorces (cabbages I believe). Eggs are layed then
I think the winged ones are both males and females.

sexual reproduction allows them to overwinter as eggs and evolve (here it comes...)
 
Some aphids (especially the ones that don't undergo winter and lack the need of an egg phase) lack males and the ability to produce males and eggs altogether. I believe our Canadian ones are the egg and male bearing ones.

How do they produce males? Aphids are able to do it becase of a XO sex program. Aphids with XX turn into females and ones with XO turn into males. When males are needed, a semi meiosis happens. Here, one of the X is destroyed in the oogenesis phase to produce a XO and therefor a male. I don't really know how to discribe it any better, so someone else is welcome to jump in
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If you are wondering how they produce the genes to produce wings, that is beond me, lol. My guess is that they all have undeveloped wings, but they only fully grow when enviroment suits them (overcrowding, stavation, etc). Think of it as accidentally spilling fertilzer over a nep. The nep will develop leaves without traps, like a aphid with wings. When the fertilizer is washed out or used up, the need for traps is provoked and all those undeveloped buds will start to grow. That about the wings is totally a guess, so I am interested if anyone can explain it.

Aphids arn't that small, like a small ant at about 1-2mm, and is surely catchable. I guess they just stay on the stalks of the droseras, smart little buggers
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If your keeping your plants outside, they will return after you get rid of them
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Green thumb? I've killed more than my fair share of plants! I am more guilty than my plants
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. Hope your aphid problems are solved. Zongyi
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TheAlphaWolf- I'm not an expert on aphids and I could be wrong. But they do have a winged phase which have all females and no winged males. Later on when males are used, there could be winged males, but I'm not sure.

I agree about the sexual reproduction allows them to overwinter as eggs and evolve part
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(there it goes, lol). Zongyi
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Sszvein @ Nov. 04 2004,8:59)]Jim, loaded question you say? Guess it is, since there seems to be mostly guys on the forum, and so far, I've been answered by two guys =D!
Until this post, the most informative reply, has come from your fellow Canadian. Since I don't know anything about the reproductive cycle of aphids, I had better stick to what I know - cheesecake, comic relief, & Chinese food.
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Gee, it almost sounds like the aphid question is a smokescreen for implying that women don't need men for anything terribly useful. Hmmm.....

Now THAT's a loaded statement!

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Sounds pretty clever Zongy!

Jim, you're the one who said it, not me! =P

So far, I soaked them and sprayed them with that garlic infusion jim found, so far I don't see any nasties (but then, I don't see much between all that wayward peat everywhere in my plants), guess I'll know in a few days.

Thanks again!
 
  • #10
The aphid's all female asexually produced offspring are basically clones (genetically identical to the mother aphid). They only need a male for genetic variation (like Zongiy said). Without a male the entire species would be extremely fragile and would definately die out. The same goes for any other species of any living being.
 
  • #11
Hey, I feel better now! I just hope the green nasties are toast.
 
  • #12
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Oh I see!
So... aphids could techically live completely without males then?

Yep, but then they may eventually die off due to no variation in the gene pool. if an organism is overly specialised (no access to new genes) then it will be the first to go during a major catastrope. eg. ice age, armagedon, the day after tomorrow...
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Exactly, if all the aphids were just clones of one another then a virus which fatally affects a particular type of gene in that gene pool would totally wipe out the aphids in a week. As there is no variation due to asexual reproduction, the aphids can't develop resistence to the disease, so...are you thinking what I'm thinking?
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Yes, aphids are smart, but then try putting them on a spatulata...
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  • #13
I have no aphids on my plants which is a good thing :p, but I have ortho rose/garden pest control, is this safe? Guess I will post here, I don't want to make a new thread
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  • #14
it's amazing how amazing even things like aphids can be!
 
  • #15
From what i learned in science class last year, they give birth to pregnant young, who give birth to more pregnant young, who give birth to more pregnant young, and it keeps going on forever. But they only spent about ten minutes on the subject.
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