Techno-ecological synergies of solar energy produce outcomes that mitigate global change Abstract | The strategic engineering of solar energy technologies-from individual rooftop modules to large solar energy power plants-can confer significant synergistic outcomes across industrial and ecological boundaries. Here, we propose technoecological synergy (TES), a framework for engineering mutually beneficial relationships between technological and ecological systems, as an approach to augment the sustainability of solar energy across a diverse suite of recipient environments, including land, food, water, and built-up systems. We provide a conceptual model and framework to describe 16 TESs of solar energy and characterize 20 potential techno-ecological synergistic outcomes of their use. For each solar energy TES, we also introduce metrics and illustrative assessments to demonstrate techno-ecological potential across multiple dimensions. The numerous applications of TES to solar energy technologies are unique among energy systems and represent a powerful frontier in sustainable engineering to minimize unintended consequences on nature associated with a rapid energy transition.

Cooperative behaviors are common among social insects such as bees, wasps, ants, and termites, but they have not been reported from insect species that use aggressive mimicry to manipulate and exploit prey or hosts. Here we show that larval aggregations of the blister beetle Meloe franciscanus, which parasitize nests of the solitary bee Habropoda pallida, cooperate to exploit the sexual communication system of their hosts by producing a chemical cue that mimics the sex pheromone of the female bee. Male bees are lured to larval aggregations, and upon contact (pseudocopulation) the beetle larvae attach to the male bees. The larvae transfer to female bees during mating and subsequently are transported to the nests of their hosts. To mimic the chemical and visual signals of female bees effectively, the parasite larvae must cooperate, emphasizing the adaptive value of cooperation between larvae. The aggressive chemical mimicry by the beetle larvae and their subsequent transport to their hosts' nests by the hosts themselves provide an efficient solution to the problem of locating a critical but scarce resource in a harsh environment.aggressive chemical mimicry ͉ cooperative behavior ͉ Habropoda pallida ͉ Meloe franciscanus ͉ phoresy T he phenomenon of phoresy (1-3), in which one organism is transported by another, is common among arthropods. Phoresy provides an effective means of dispersal for organisms with limited mobility, particularly in extreme environments where harsh conditions and the scarcity and patchiness of critical resources present formidable obstacles to survival. The relationship between passenger and host may become obligate, with the passenger being entirely dependent on the host for transport to suitable habitats or resources. Under such circumstances, it is to be expected that the passenger will develop behavioral, morphological, semiochemical, and life history characters that promote effective exploitation of the host. Here we report a well developed, multistep phoretic system in which the passenger species not only rides on the host but actively lures the host to it by mimicking the host's sex pheromone and subsequently parasitizes the host's nest.Our study system was comprised of the blister beetle Meloe franciscanus Van Dyke and its host, the solitary bee Habropoda pallida Timberlake, which inhabit sand dunes in the deserts of the southwestern United States. In this extremely variable habitat, widely distributed patches of plants function as islands in a sea of sand for first-instar larvae of the beetle. The dunes support populations of the psammophytic plant Astragalus lentiginosus var. borreganus M. E. Jones, which provides nectar for the host bee. The flightless adult blister beetles also feed on Astragalus foliage, and female beetles frequently oviposit at the base of the plant.The phoretic first-instar larvae of M. franciscanus, known as triungulins, have evolved a complex four-step mechanism for ensuring their survival, which results in the host species transporting the triungulins back t...

No abstract

Chemosensory signals play a key role in species recognition and mate location in both invertebrate and vertebrate species. Closely related species often produce similar but distinct signals by varying the ratios or components in pheromone blends to avoid interference in their communication channels and minimize cross-attraction among congeners. However, exploitation of reproductive signals by predators and parasites also may provide strong selective pressure on signal phenotypes. For example, bolas spiders mimic the pheromones of several moth species to attract their prey, and parasitic blister beetle larvae, known as triungulins, cooperatively produce an olfactory signal that mimics the sex pheromone of their female host bees to attract male bees, as the first step in being transported by their hosts to their nests. In both cases, there is strong selection pressure on the host to discriminate real mates from aggressive mimics and, conversely, on the predator, parasite, or parasitoid to track and locally adapt to the evolving signals of its hosts. Here we show local adaptation of a beetle, (Coleoptera: Meloidae), to the pheromone chemistry and mate location behavior of its hosts, two species of solitary bees in the genus We report that ' deceptive signal is locally host-adapted in its chemical composition and ratio of components, with host bees from each allopatric population preferring the deceptive signals of their sympatric parasite population. Furthermore, in different locales, the triungulin aggregations have adapted their perching height to the height at which local male bees typically patrol for females.