UNL biologists Alan Bond and Alan Kamil used four blue jays as predators in a virtual ecology experiment. They proved a 19th-century theory that a predator drives prey, in this case virtual moths, to morph their appearance.

Study: Predators drive evolution of prey appearance

By Tom Simons, University Communications

The idea has been around for a long time: Predation can promote variation in the appearance of insect prey species, particularly if predators use "searching images" and restrict their search to the most abundant prey types.

But it was something that hadn't been directly observed until two University of Nebraska-Lincoln biologists ran a three-year experiment using live blue jays and evolving virtual moths.

In results published in the Feb. 7 issue of Nature, the international weekly journal of science, Alan Bond and Alan Kamil describe an experiment in which they used four blue jays as predators in a virtual ecology. The virtual ecology was a population of 200 virtual moths whose wings had relatively similar cryptic markings. The moth images were overlaid on a complex, granular background that was projected on a computer display, mimicking the appearance of live moths on a tree trunk. The appearance of the moths was developed from virtual genomes that were based on the way wing patterns are coded in real moth genetics.

The blue jays had already been trained to spot moths on a computer screen and peck at them to get a pellet of food. (They were the subjects of an earlier Bond-Kamil experiment described in a Nature paper in 1998). If they didn't see a moth, they were trained to peck at a central green circle to get to a new screen to continue their search.

The jays started by "hunting" the parental population one moth at a time. Each moth in the population was presented to one of the jays once in the course of a daily session. Half of the displays seen by each bird had no embedded moths.

At the end of each day, the accuracy and speed of the birds were scored and entered into a genetic algorithm, which favored the moths that were the most difficult to detect as parents for the next generation.

The moth population was allowed to "reproduce" and the birds hunted the new generation on the succeeding day. Bond and Kamil continued the process for 100 generations and repeated it two more times. For 30 days between runs, the jays were exposed only to the original parental population to return them to a consistent baseline.

In each run, Bond and Kamil found unequivocal evidence that jay predation had resulted in selection for increasing both the crypticity and the variability of wing markings. Two sets of control lineages did not show similar effects.

"What we found is that the moths not only get more difficult to find when the birds are searching for them, but they also get significantly more diverse than you would expect on the basis of a similar predatory process that didn't involve searching images," Bond said. "The fact that the birds are looking for something similar to what they've seen before actually encourages the development of novel-appearing moths."

The experiment, Bond and Kamil said, illustrates what British entomologist Edward Poulton had predicted in 1890: Because it's harder for a predator to search for two things at the same time than to search for one, the source of polymorphism (variance in physical appearance) of insect prey might be that it makes it harder for the predator to find prey.

"What's amazing is Poulton said this in 1890 and it has taken this long to be able to put together a preparation that allows us to demonstrate it clearly in circumstances in which prey appearance is actually evolving," Bond said. "This sort of question is very difficult to do with real prey animals. In the field, there are so many other things going on that you have no way of parsing out the changes that are due to predation; and in the laboratory, there's a whole other set of complicated problems in just trying to keep both predator and prey alive simultaneously through multiple generations."

Bond said the experiment's design overcame those difficulties, and was sufficiently complex and carried enough key features of the real predator-prey system that he and Kamil are confident their results show a meaningful effect.

"And the other thing is, although the prey are not real animals, the predators are," Kamil said. "So we're looking at what real predators do to what seems by every measure we can think of to be a very reasonable simulation of what this type of prey is like."

Thompson speaker talks of Germany's Nazi past

The real-life heroine of the film The Nasty Girl will be the next speaker in the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues.

Anna Rosmus, who earned the sobriquet because of her 17-year effort to uncover the hidden Nazi past of her hometown in Bavaria, will speak March 7 about "Growing Up Where Hitler Lived." Her address begins at 3:30 p.m. in the Lied Center. The talk is free and open to the public and will be broadcast live on Lincoln public-access cable Channel 21 and KRNU radio (90.3 FM). It will also be live via satellite at Learning Centers in Scottsbluff, Norfolk, Grand Island and North Platte and at other sites throughout the state through NebSat 107, and via streaming video on the UNL Web site <http://www.unl.edu>.

A freelance writer who lives and works in Washington, D.C., Rosmus grew up in Passau, Germany, where she became known as the "nasty girl" when as a teen-ager she began research for a school essay about what happened in the town during World War II. She is the author of five books on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism, including the stories of Jews who once lived in the Passau area and were exiled. Her struggle led to threats against her life.

Rosmus' recent work is the subject of a German documentary film, Passau-Washington: The Nasty Girl in America, which was shown throughout Germany. She was profiled on CBS' 60 Minutes in 1994.

She was awarded the highest honor by the German Jewish Community, the Galinski Prize, and received the American Society of Journalists and Authors' Conscience in Media Award in a special program at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Ryan Robertson, a freshman marketing/business administration major, checks off a name while making phone calls Feb. 12 from the Office of Admissions to high school students already accepted to the university.

Admissions hits phones to boost recruitment

By Andy Schadwinkel, Office of Admissions

Call them telecounselors. Call them A.S.T.R.O.S. (Awesome Students Telling Recruits Our Stories, the team's adopted name). Call them a major boost to Admissions recruitment. Just don't call them telemarketers.

Part of UNL's student recruitment efforts since 1999, telecounseling has become a fixture in admissions offices nationwide. UNL's telecounselors develop individualized contact with thousands of prospective students; provide field representatives with more detailed information on students; enhance UNL's image with parents; help determine students' interests; update and verify data; and reduce student and parent anxiety levels.

"The only bad part of the job is trying to talk to parents who think you are a telemarketer and hang up on you before you have a chance to tell them why you are calling," said Abby Ferraro.

Led by Graduate Assistant Katherine Barrow, the telecounseling team placed more than 6,200 calls during the fall semester, and 1,691 calls through Jan. 31 this semester.

This month, a typical call might be a follow-up to a three-week old mailing on housing contracts sent to prospective students. The telecounselor wants to determine the student's interest level; encourage the student to look over the contract; inform the student that rooms are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis; and ask what might be holding the student back from completing the contract. The answers help both housing and admissions offices know which prospects may need more information and which may need to be eliminated from future contacts.

The telecounselors have delivered results. Kelly Lindsay, assistant director for national recruitment, is one territory manager who's reaping the benefits.

"This year has been a whirlwind with Noel-Levitz consultations and our new database software planning. The improved telecounseling program is one area in which we've really been able to step up our efforts right away - helping us now and putting us ahead for the future," Lindsay said.

Noel-Levitz is a firm hired to help UNL improve enrollment management operations.

Every Sunday through Thursday, the A.S.T.R.O.S. get to work. Their jobs put a more personal touch on the Admissions recruitment process.

"I consider a successful call to consist of two parts," Meghan Spence said. "One, the person has a positive attitude about receiving the call, and two, I am successful in answering his/her questions with accuracy and quickness."

"I'll add a part 3. When prospects feel comfortable enough with me to e-mail and ask questions after the call. Then I know I've really connected," said Lindsey Kruep.

Student questions run the gamut, from information about athletics to academics.

"It is not uncommon for students and parents to ask about the football team and tickets to games, especially around football season. But usually you get questions about scholarship information," said Christina Berke.

Some conversations stick out.

"I talked to this girl's dad for, like, 20 minutes. He was so nice and had a lot of questions because they lived out of state. He could carry on quite a conversation about the Huskers and the coaching staff," said Joni Hinz.

Most who receive the calls enjoy them.

"I think that out-of-state students appreciate our calls the most. They are really surprised that the university goes so far to cater to their needs. Most students are excited about our calls and impressed that we take the time to call them," said Kelly Freidel.

And the telecounselors have picked up some other skills from the job.

"I find myself more inquisitive about more mundane things . . . I try to investigate, to see why it might be important," said Ryan Robertson.

"I have an incredible amount of knowledge about the university - I feel like I'm a walking Centrex! I have had a lot of fun, and I enjoy knowing that I have directly influenced some people's decision to attend the university," said Andrea Deichert.

Recently, the telecounselors moved to a new work area in the Alexander Building. Barrow said that moving to a space of their own has allowed team members to personalize their calling area and given them more job satisfaction.

"I can see a renewed sense of ownership to their recruitment efforts. They are definitely more focused and dedicated - and I think now performance has been enhanced," she said.

Considering their methods for making such a positive impact on recruitment, the telecounselors might go by yet another name: Ringers.