Development Biology: Spontaneous Outburst of Nature

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Development Biology

 Spontaneous Outburst of Nature

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature - School on Blog 

Sudden outburst of wood mushrooms blanket the limb of a dead tree. Former St Paul University QC Botanical Garden

A sudden but precise outburst of a species of wood fungus on the trunk of a dead tree wakes up in response to biological clock. Development biology, a specialized field of life science, helps trace the transformation of life from one kind to another as to how a bridge can provide the transition in all aspects - biological, chemical and physical. Where one organism begins where one ends can be studied according to their life cycles. 

More than this is the mystery of the very core of life that keeps the system balanced, continuous and dynamic.  

Here are other examples to illustrate this phenomenon. 

1. Emergence of midges (gamu-gamu) 

2. Outbreak of pathogens that leads to epidemic (Cholera, Dengue, H1N1, SARS, and COVID-19 pandemic 

3. Algal bloom (red tide) 

4. Jellyfish outbreak 

5. Migration of birds

A colony of aphids on cabbage - a sudden outburst of reproduction through paedogenesis - a rare phenomenon among insects and other lower forms of bearing young before reaching maturity. Add to the list other cases that may be occurring in your area. 

Gamu-gamu or winged termites (Macrotermes gilvus) fall off to the ground following aggregate attraction to bulb light.

 

Migratory birds. Migration is a natural process, whereby different birds fly over distances of hundreds to thousands of kilometers in order to find the best ecological conditions and habitats for feeding, breeding and raising their young. Note V-shape formation, a strategy to break wind resistance and create smoother path for the whole flock.  

Red Tide spreads over a beach; close-up of Pyrodinium bahamense compressa (red tide dinoflagellate); fish kill - dead fish as a result of red tide invasion cover a long stretch of the seashore.

Is the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlyn true? Is it related to this biological phenomenon?

The Pied Piper leads a horde of rats to their death from a sea cliff.  He leads children to their mysterious disappearance in a forest when he was not given the promised reward of ridding the city of Hamlyn from rats. In this particular story, it could have been lemmings (Lemmus lemmus. Family Cricetidae) - not rats - since lemmings have been observed to "commit mass suicide" as part of their migratory nature. Science has yet to prove this assumption. But there is one myth that has held on tenaciously.  Every few years, herds of lemmings commit mass suicide by jumping off seaside cliffs. Internet ~