Casey Hall

Postdoc researcher at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment. Starving caterpillars for science | insects | plant defence | silicon | eCO2

[Adrian Smith @DrAdrianSmith]

Here's the step-by-step checklist for this leafhopper nymph's blastoff:
✅squirt a little honeydew
✅tuck the front legs
✅hold a statue pose all the way into outer space

unused sequence (captured at 4,300fps) from this: https://t.co/xlLBUmDM1Y

[Jamie Waterman @jmwaterm]

New #siliceousplants paper out in @Plants_MDPI led by @thehungrybug with @ScottJohnsonLab. We found that silicon acts as a direct defence against chewing herbivores by altering the morphology of physical defence structures, not leaf mechanical traits.
https://t.co/Qdv4mnqzIs

[Ecological Entomology @Ecol_Ent]

Microbes in Helicoverpa armigera oral secretions contribute to increased senescence around plant wounds https://t.co/iRNYlPKBTe

[Casey Hall @thehungrybug]

@ErinnFJ @Dr_GaryTaylor It was a privilege to share an office with you Gary, all the best on your travels!

[Julia Cooke @CookeJulia]

Have you got a few minutes to channel your inner possum and see if you can tell the difference between Australian mistletoe leaves and those of their hosts? Play the game here:
https://t.co/qydSJ7fq9b
.
#mimicry
#ecology
#citizenscience
#plantblindness
@S112_OU
@MBulbert

[Casey Hall @thehungrybug]

Feeling sympathy for the caterpillars 🐛

Counting silicified prickle cells from leaf epidermal peels #Homelab #WFH #siliceousplants #plantdefence
@rvandegeer @ScottJohnsonLab

[Invertebrate Systematics and Biodiversity Lab @DNArthropods]

Home office c/o Andy Austin 🧑🏼‍💻🐴🍷Getting it done! You be the judge. @SoBSPA @InvasionEcology @dnatimelord @DrMGuzik @DrEmSherratt #UoAHomeOffice

[Ecological Entomology @Ecol_Ent]

Flies on vacation: evidence for the migration of Australian Syrphidae (Diptera) https://t.co/EadKp8jr6w

[Tom Phillips @flashboy]

I like how the genome of the Wuhan coronavirus trails off in a scream, like it's been stabbed or pushed off a cliff https://t.co/XHZzb3UrCj

[The Busta Lab @PlantsRChemists]

If you enjoy the flavor of hops this #PhytochemicalFriday, you're tasting isohumulones, products of a hop chemical (humulone) as it degrades during brewing. They provide hops a characteristic bitter flavor. Their parent, humulone, seems to act as an antiviral and antimicrobial.

[The Busta Lab @PlantsRChemists]

Happy #PhytochemicalFriday from #PAGXXVIII #PAG2020! Today: Aconitine: deadly poison from Aconitum spp. (aka Monkshood / Wolf's-bane) that features in modern mysteries and literature from Ancient Rome (Ovid). The alkaloid binds sodium ion channels & interferes with neuron firing.

[Professor Scott Johnson @ScottJohnsonLab]

Congratulations to Tarikul @Tarikul67150456 on passing his CoC and to Rocky @rputrabio on his birthday. Last lab meeting of @ScottJohnsonLab before Christmas. @Fikadu03792669 @aphid_whisperer @thehungrybug @rvandegeer @jmwaterm @XimeCibils

[Alexander Verbeek 🌍 @Alex_Verbeek]

🐛

This week I want to show you how beautifully diverse caterpillars have evolved.

Which one is your favorite?

🦋

#caterpillarweek #caterpillar #nature #pollinators #wildlife #cute

[Rebecca Vandegeer @rvandegeer]

New paper out shows that not all droughts are equal in the eyes of a grass... @westsyduhie @asps_ozplants
https://t.co/YR76Q9kUHf

[Professor Scott Johnson @ScottJohnsonLab]

Excellent talk by @thehungrybug at #JointAusBio19 on alkaloid defences as affected by plant silicon. Really cool interplay and interaction between resistance mechanisms

[Professor Scott Johnson @ScottJohnsonLab]

@rvandegeer gives a 5 min speed talk at #JointAusBio19 explaining how interactions between silicon and osmotic stress affect herbivores. Herbivores suffer from both; thicker leaves and physical defences?

[Thomas D.J. Sayers @tdjsayers]

I’ve come across quite a few people who scream when a moth flies at them. So for anyone with a moth phobia (Mottephobia) here is one all tucked up sleeping 💤 on a eucalypt leaf 🍃 in my back yard. Not so scary #eyelashes #moths #lepidoptera #mottephobia

[Dr David Hamilton @davidghamilton1]

What’s the one thing better than a #wombat?

A wombat with a miniature, even fuzzier version of itself!! #WildOz