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VALENTINE'S DAYFor more information on these science news and feature story tips, please contact the public information officer at the end of each item at (703) 292-8070. Editor: Cheryl Dybus Contents of this News Tip: WHITE-HOT LOVE IN THE WORLD'S COLDEST PLACE...It really was, as the rock song has it, a nice day for a white wedding. Donna Aldrich and Roger Hooker expected a little snow on their wedding day - after all it was New Year's Day. And they were at the South Pole. Aldrich and Hooker chose an unforgettable location for their nuptuals, exchanging vows "on the ice," as Antarctic veterans have it, just outside the National Science Foundation's Amundsen Scott South Pole Station. The couple met in Walden, Vermont, seven years ago, but, says Aldrich, they were engaged for 18 months before Hooker chose a site for the wedding. "We had decided that Roger would pick the time and the place when it was right for him. That's where and when he picked." Shunning tuxedos and wedding gowns, the couple decked themselves out in the red parkas of the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) as they shared vows and a wedding toast and exchanged rings made by Bob Pemick, another South Pole Station employee. A crowd of well-wishers snapped photographs, some of which were posted on the station's internal Web site. After a reception featuring homemade pizza and a four-layer wedding cake, they spent a short honeymoon in McMurdo Station, almost 900 miles away and across the continent, bordering the Ross Sea. The largest U.S. scientific station in Antarctica, McMurdo swells into a booming metropolis of almost 1,200 researchers and support staff during the austral summer. Both Aldrich and Hooker are first-timers to the Pole and will "winter-over" after the sun goes down for six months in late April. They are employed by Antarctic Support Associates, the Englewood, Colorado-based contractor that provides logistical support for the USAP. [Peter West] ...IN THE NEST...One of the potential outcomes of having several mates is the spread of disease. But is there an evolutionary benefit to exchanging possibly harmful bacteria within a population? In birds, multiple partners may be a good thing. NSF-funded University of Kentucky biologist David Westneat is studying the effects of sexually transmitted bacteria in populations of red-winged blackbirds. Westneat's study, an extension of his long-term research on the reproductive behavior of blackbirds, is among the first to examine the consequences of bacteria on mating patterns of wild songbirds. Male red-winged blackbirds are territorial creatures; they will fiercely defend their property (and any female blackbirds nesting there) from rival males. On occasion, however, they must relax their defensive posture and take a break to eat. Consequently, nearly 35 percent of the young that male blackbirds help raise on their own territory are sired by rivals who've snuck into the nest while the males were away. Westneat has found that male blackbirds contain a diverse array of bacteria. And among the bacteria found in young blackbirds is a type of Aeromonas that produces chitanase, an enzyme that can break down the heavy exoskeletons of insects. According to Westneat, "Red-winged blackbirds may benefit from exchanging these bacteria, which help in digesting the insects that make up a large part of the birds' diet." [Cheryl Dybas] ...AND IN THE BEEHIVESex, politics and royal intrigue may be the stuff of romance novels, but they can also be subjects for study by entomologists. Honeybee society is characterized by the extraordinary degree of cooperation between the queen and the workers because, although workers can lay male eggs, the queen in fact lays the eggs that become males. But in stingless bees, a tropical subset of the bee family, worker bees do not agree with the queen, and so try to produce the male eggs themselves. Unlike their stinging cousins, then, stingless bees are in constant conflict over whose genes will dominate the hive. With an NSF grant, biologists Joan Strassmann and David Queller of Rice University in Houston, Texas, are studying the behavioral effects of genetic conflict in stingless bee society. Using DNA fingerprinting techniques to determine which bees (queens or workers) produce the males, the researchers hope to learn more about the expression and resolution of genetic conflicts within social groups. [Cheryl Dybas]
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