Monday, March 1, 1999
		Female monogamy not the rule among mating birds In study after study of species after species, the idea that females are naturally devoted to their one mate has fallen to growing evidence that many of the world’s supposedly monogamous females are guilty of their share of indiscretions, according to a New York Times report. Yet many biologists held out hope that some males might be immune to this kind of treatment--particularly exemplary fathers such as in the bird species known as the wattled jacana. The Times quotes UGA behavioral ecologist Patricia Adair Gowaty, who calls the jacanas “absolutely fascinating” in their mating behavior. Although the male jacanas do everything to care for the eggs and young of the females, chances are they’re raising another male’s chick. “The females are really in the catbird seat,” said Gowaty. “They seem to be getting whatever they want.” Car dealers buying online A study by three UGA business professors, reported in the Wall Street Journal, finds that used-car dealers trying to build up their inventory are willing to pay “significantly more” when purchasing over the Internet than going to used-car auctions in person. The reasons, according to the research, are less risk, fewer additional expenses, less stress and the convenience of an immediate transaction. The study focused on Atlanta-based Manheim Auctions, whose Web sales were $217 million last year. It suggests that because dealers pay a fee to browse Manheim’s Web site, they are motivated to buy online to get their money’s worth--even if they end up paying higher prices for the cars. The study says such charges are something other online retailers should consider. “If you sign up for it, then you’ve made this psychological commitment to use the service,” said Rick Watson, one of the study’s authors. Plants under attack thwart pests with distress signals Scientists have known for years that plants can send out distress signals to wasps and other insect bodyguards when they are attacked by pests. But researchers are just beginning to understand how sophisticated the messages can be--and how they might eventually be used to develop chemical-free pest controls. An Associated Press story reports on three years of research by entomologist Consuelo De Moraes at UGA’s Coastal Plain Experiment Station that showed that cotton, corn and tobacco plants send out one signal when being attacked by corn ear worms and another when they’re being attacked by tobacco bud worms. The two caterpillars cost U.S. farmers about $6 billion a year in lost crops and pesticide expenses. “This is the first time that somebody proved that plants produce a different response to different caterpillars,” said De Moraes. Creationism still an issue In an op-ed piece in the London Times, UGA professor of history and law Ed Larson writes that many Americans still prefer the Bible’s version of our origins to Darwin’s. Teaching evolution in the schools remains “a festering sore,” according to Larson, who won a 1998 Pulitzer Prize for his book on the 1925 Scopes trial that focused on tensions between creationists and evolutionists. “Put the issue of teaching evolution on the agenda of a school-board meeting anywhere in America,” writes Larson, “and the room will be filled with partisans from both sides.” For more information about these items, contact news service director Sharron Hannon at 542-8083.
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