Environmental samples from poultry cages water at two local poultry markets and swans from the residential area were tested also.
#Medfly and other fruit flies entrenched in California, study concludesresearch published today in the international journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B clearly demonstrates that at least five and as many as nine species of tropical fruit flies including the infamous Medfly are established permanently in California
and inexorably spreading despite more than 30 years of intervention and nearly 300 state-sponsored eradication programs aimed at the flies.
The new study by a trio of scientists affiliated with the University of California Davis has significant implications for how government agencies develop policies to successfully manage pests that pose a threat to California's $43. 5 billion agricultural industry.
Despite due diligence quick responses and massive expenditures to prevent entry and establishment of these insects virtually all of the fruit-fly species targeted by eradication projects have been reappearing in the same locations--several of them annually
--and gradually spreading in the state said UC Davis entomology professor James Carey an international authority on fruit-fly invasion biology
and co-author of the study which examined more than 60 years of state fruit-fly capture data.
Regulatory policies as well as pest management and agricultural practices need to be revised to reflect the reality that these insects are here to stay.
We need to develop long-term strategies to deal with these pests that are effective safe for public and environmental health
and minimally burdensome to growers Carey said. Fortunately the multiple small populations of fruit flies in the state and the long lag times in the growth of these populations will give policymakers
and planners time to develop a robust science-based response. This work is the most comprehensive analysis of populations of tropical fruit flies in California to date
and in any region worldwide said insect population biologist George Roderick the William Muriece Hoskins professor
and chair of the Division of Organisms and Environment at UC Berkeley and an expert on biological invasions who is affiliated not with the new study.
Frank Zalom incoming president of the Entomological Society of America and a UC Davis entomology professor said the new study provides a careful and systematic analysis of fruit-fly finds
I hope that it helps lead to new discussions on a long-term approach for dealing with fruit flies
and similar exotic pests by the United states and international regulatory authorities said Zalom who is an expert on integrated pest management.
and European nations with conditions equally hospitable to fruit flies as well as similar patterns of international travel and detections of fruit flies in cargo at ports of entry do not have established fruit-fly populations.
This combination of findings definitively rebuts the hypothesis that the multiple detections of many species of fruit flies in California each year are the result of repeated new introductions he said.
Papadopoulos the study's lead author and an internationally renowned expert on fruit-fly demography and invasion biology was formerly a postdoctoral fellow
and visiting scholar at UC Davis. These findings may have wider implications regarding management of fruit-fly invasions that may go well beyond California Papadopoulos said.
and possibly several more fruit-fly species are established in California said Plant who provided mathematical modeling and statistical analysis for the study.
The researchers applied computerized data-mapping technology to analyze historical fruit-fly detection data. Using this analysis they determined that besides the olive fly
which is confirmed as established the Mediterranean Mexican oriental melon peach and guava fruit flies are established now also in California.
Fruit-fly history in Californiatropical fruit flies have been a concern to California for nearly 60 years with the first fruit fly discovered here in 1954.
Since then 11386 individual flies including adults and larvae representing 17 different fruit-fly species have been detected in nearly all regions of the state.
Both adult and larval fruit flies pose a threat with the larvae (maggots) actually burrowing into
and damaging a wide range of fruits and vegetables. Because of the state's geographic location and climate California is considered particularly vulnerable to introduction and establishment of tropical fruit-fly populations.
The pests were thought to be arriving either on cargo shipments or on infested fruits carried in by travelers from regions of the world where fruit flies were had native
or become established. State and federal agencies have for many years coordinated efforts to prevent the invasive fruit flies from establishing breeding populations in California and other vulnerable states.
Such activities include restricting commodity imports from regions with ongoing fruit-fly outbreaks requiring postharvest treatments for produce grown in areas with established fruit-fly populations maintaining large-scale fruit-fly monitoring programs for early detection
and release of sterile fruit flies to slow or prevent reproduction of the invasive flies. The potential costs associated with established fruit-fly populations are substantial.
For example a 1995 study estimated that a confirmed Medfly establishment alone in California would result in $493 million to $875 million in annual direct costs
and the imposition of a related embargo on shipping fruits and vegetables from the state would cause an additional loss of $564 million.
The state economy could lose $1. 2 billion in gross revenue and more than 14000 jobs the earlier study suggested.
New study findingsin the new published study the researchers report that several lines of evidence now indicate that the fruit flies have become self-sustaining
and thus established in California including: Collectively the data suggest that much like other invasive species tropical fruit flies can be present in low numbers for decades Carey said.
This'lag time'which is such a hallmark of invasion biology explains why California can be harboring very small established populations of these pests with only periodic captures that reveal their presence.
He noted that two aspects of the fruit-fly invasions are advantageous for policymakers and planners:
all detected fruit-fly species are extremely small and may continue to exist for years below detectable levels
and the fairly long lag times provide opportunities for developing new management protocols and programs.
Suggested responsecarey said that an immediate assessment should be made of the economic impact of having each species established in the state projecting the individual and collective effects of the fruit flies for all affected California fruit and vegetable crops.
He also suggests that government agencies might increase fruit-fly monitoring particularly in the Central Valley and California's other agriculturally important areas;
make contingency plans for future outbreaks; establish fruit-fly-free zones in the state to assure trading partners;
and enable farmers to purchase crop insurance that would provide protection against losses due to fruit-fly crop damage
or marketing restrictions. In addition California farmers and packers should consider the presence of established fruit-fly populations
when developing their cropping plans and production strategies he said. In the scientific arena Carey recommends that genetic analyses be developed for all of the fruit-fly species identified in the state to determine
whether single or multiple invasions of each species are occurring and identify new strains that might be introduced in the future.
Invasion biology expert Roderick from UC Berkeley projects that the new study will have a sustaining impact on both science and policy.
I predict this paper will be remembered as much for its future impact on how science is used in developing strategies for pest management worldwide as for the conclusions it draws about the state of tropical fruit-fly populations in California he said.
and Aquaculture the team has proven that a completely plant-based food combination can support fast-growing marine carnivores like cobia
and striped bass are predators and eat other fish to survive and grow. As a result their food in captivity is made of a combination of fishmeal
and potentially other high-value high-value marine carnivores. Fish meal was replaced with a food made of corn wheat and soy.
and muscle growth and is found in high levels in carnivorous fish and their prey.
As scientists with the Forest Services'Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains Campbell and Rustad know the promise and pitfalls of sensor networks.
#Timber rattlesnakes indirectly benefit human health: Not-so-horrid top predator helps check Lyme diseasethe scientific name of the timber rattlesnake Crotalus horridus is a sign of the fear
and loathing this native North american viper has inspired. But research by a team of University of Maryland biologists shows the timber rattlesnake indirectly benefits humankind by keeping Lyme disease in check.
The team's findings to be presented today in a talk at the annual conference of the Ecological Society of America highlight the potential benefits of conserving all species--even those some people dislike.
Human cases of Lyme disease a bacterial illness that can cause serious neurological problems if left untreated are on the rise.
The disease is spread by black-legged ticks which feed on infected mice and other small mammals. Foxes and other mammal predators help control the disease by keeping small mammal populations in check.
The decline of these mammal predators may be a factor in Lyme disease's prevalence among humans.
Timber rattlers are also top predators in Eastern forests and their numbers are also falling so former University of Maryland graduate student Edward Kabay wanted to know
whether the rattlers also play a role in controlling Lyme disease. Kabay used published studies of timber rattlers'diets at four Eastern forest sites to estimate the number of small mammals the snakes consume
and matched that with information on the average number of ticks each small mammal carried. The results showed that each timber rattler removed 2500-4500 ticks from each site annually.
Because not every human bitten by an infected tick develops Lyme disease the team did not estimate how many people are spared the disease because of the ecosystem service that timber rattlesnakes provide.
But Kabay who is now a science teacher at East Chapel hill High school and his research colleagues will talk about the human health implications of their work on Aug 6.
Timber rattlesnakes are listed as endangered in six states and threatened in five more under the Endangered Species Act.
Habitat loss road kills and people killing them out of fear are the big issues said University of Maryland Associate Biology Prof.
Karen Lips. They are nonaggressive and rarely bite unless provoked or stepped upon. Lips who directs UMD's graduate program in sustainable development
#Conservation efforts might encourage some to hunt lionsconventional wisdom holds that East Africa's Maasai pastoralists hunt lions for two distinct reasons:
to retaliate against lions that kill livestock or to engage in a cultural rite of passage.
Further some conservation initiatives including those designed to save lions from being hunted have failed either to work
or in some cases appear to have incited Maasai to hunt more lions as a form of political protest the researchers report.
because it's harder to control the hunting of lions unless society knows precisely why lions are hunted the researchers contend.
Many populations of Panthera leo--African lions--are falling and the species is classified as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural resources'Red List.
Lion hunting is outlawed in Kenya and in Tanzania is limited to mostly tourists hunting with permits
unless the hunt is to eliminate a lion in defense of life or livestock. Still lion hunting regularly occurs in both countries usually without the hunters'following the law.
We saw an inaccurate representation of the exact reasons for why Maasai hunt lions and we had a lot of ethnographic background to correct that said Mara J. Goldman the assistant professor of geography at CU-Boulder who led the study.
Goldman collaborated with Joana Roque de Pinho a postdoctoral researcher at the Universidade T cnica de Lisboa Portugal
and Jennifer Perry a CU-Boulder geography alumna now studying law at the university. Goldman and her fellow researchers conducted 246 in depth interviews of Tanzanian and Kenyan Maasai between 2004 and 2008.
They found that Maasai hunt lions for multiple overlapping reasons some relating to predation on livestock and some not.
In some cases Maasai said they hunted lions to prevent the potential killing of livestock especially by lions that had killed livestock before rather than just as retaliation.
And while Maasai still celebrate successful lion hunts and the prowess of the warriors who hunt that cultural tradition can be less of a motivation to hunt than political discontent.
In Kenya for instance conservation programs aim to curb Maasai lion hunting by financially compensating Maasai for livestock killed by lions.
In Tanzania suggestions have been made by some to start such'compensation'programs but the Maasai themselves explain why this strategy has limitations:
because the lion will keep coming back to eat cattle until all the cattle are gone. And then what will we do with the money?
In the beginning the elders kept the warriors from hunting lions the researchers found. But after Maasai representation in ranch governance was diminished the Maasai felt disenfranchised.
Lion hunting increased in frequency and severity and was discouraged no longer by elders the researchers said.
and social customs and most recently for their lion-hunting practices. Although the primary motivations for lion hunting differed somewhat between Tanzania
and Kenya the researchers emphasize that Maasai have multiple overlapping reasons to hunt lions: to reaffirm the protective role of young warriors to help select brave leaders among warrior groups to allow individual warriors to gain prestige to eliminate lions that prey on livestock
and to prevent lions from becoming habituated to eating livestock and sometimes harming people. The multiple reasons illustrate the limitations of explaining Maasai lion hunting as either a cultural manhood ritual
or a retaliatory act the researchers write. Participatory conservation interventions that respect Maasai knowledge and promote full engagement with management processes are likely to have far better success in persuading Maasai to change
or moderate such behaviors themselves the research team states adding that lion conservation projects rarely address such complex politics.
Goldman also a faculty research associate at CU-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science is the first author on the study that was published recently online in the journal Oryx
and is scheduled to appear in the journal's October print edition. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Colorado at Boulder.
and food webs that did not sustain the abundance of large sharks whales seabirds and seals of the modern ocean.
and other gases known to create a greenhouse effect that traps heat in the atmosphere. For several days in May 2013 CO2 levels exceeded 400 parts per million for the first time in human history
and the seabed was dominated by piles of pebble-like single-celled organisms called foraminifera. The'rainforests-of-the-sea'reefs were replaced by the'gravel parking lots'of the greenhouse world said Norris The greenhouse world was marked also by differences in the ocean food web with large parts of the tropical and subtropical ocean ecosystems supported by minute
Indeed large marine animals--sharks tunas whales seals even seabirds--mostly became abundant when algae became large enough to support top predators in the cold oceans of recent geologic times.
The tiny algae of the greenhouse world were just too small to support big animals said Norris. It's like trying to keep lions happy on mice instead of antelope;
lions can't get by on only tiny snacks. Within the greenhouse world there were rapid warming events that resemble our projected future.
One well-studied event is known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) 56 million years ago
That event lasted about 200000 years and warmed Earth by 5-9°C (9-16°F) with massive migrations of animals and plants and shifts in climate zones.
and the University of Cambridge has revealed the first steps of evolution in gene regulation in mice.
We found an impressive amount of variation between these apparently very similar mice in terms of transcription-factor binding which is an important indicator of gene-regulation activity says Paul Flicek of EMBL-EBI.
The team studied gene expression in five very closely related mouse species in order to pinpoint changes at the very earliest stages of evolution.
or off in liver cells in the different mouse species. By looking at mice that are very closely related to each other we were able to capture a snapshot of
In this study instead of comparing leaf and fruit shapes the team looked at gene regulation in mice that had diverged only recently from one another.
The researchers contrasted their findings with gene-regulation data from another model organism Drosophila to see where the similarities lay.
They found that there were a lot more differences between closely related mouse strains than there are between distantly related fruit-fly strains.
Mammals have lots of DNA kicking around that doesn't code for proteins while fruit flies have relatively little.
So a mouse's regulatory wiring will just have a lot more wiggle room than a fruit fly's says Paul.
That gives us a clearer picture of what we can expect to learn about mammalian genetic regulation from fruit flies.
The study could help scientists understand how gene regulation differs from one person to the next explaining why genes that cause disease in some people don't have that effect in others.
and animals is speed the of the change. Stanford climate scientists warn that the likely rate of change over the next century will be at least 10 times quicker than any climate shift in the past 65 million years.
and animals recolonized areas that had been under ice. As the climate continued to warm those plants
and animals moved northward to cooler climes. We know from past changes that ecosystems have responded to a few degrees of global temperature change over thousands of years said Diffenbaugh.
The Arctic ocean did not have ice in the summer and nearby land was warm enough to support alligators and palm trees.
and animals would need to migrate to live in annual temperatures similar to current conditions. Around the world including much of the United states species face needing to move toward the poles or higher in the mountains by at least one kilometer per year.
#Temperature alters population dynamics of common plant peststemperature-driven changes alter outbreak patterns of tea tortrix--an insect pest
whether insects emerge as cohesive cohorts or continuously according to an international team of researchers. These findings have implications for both pest control
and how climate change may alter infestations. While the influence of temperature on individual-level life-history traits is understood well the impact on population-level dynamics such as population cycles
and the timing of the various insect life stages which is critical for scheduling pest control.
or two of the life stages of these pests. The researchers looked at more than 50 years of data on the tea tortrix
and also developed an independent mathematical population model that can predict population dynamics under both constant and seasonally driven temperature regimes.
While the tea tortrix is native to Japan many similar moths exist in North american including the spruce bud moth grape berry moth light brown apple moth and summer fruit tortrix.
The researchers who also include William A. Nelson associate professor of biology Queens University Canada currently on sabbatical at Penn State and Takehiko Yamanaka senior researcher National Institute for Agro-Environmental sciences Tsukuba
Japan used long-term data on the population dynamics of the tea tortrix that span 51 years and more than 200 outbreaks.
This type of insect remains dormant during the winter and emerges once the temperature reaches a certain level in the spring.
Because the first generation is triggered by this temperature increase the insects emerge all at once. We found the tea tortrix data very interesting said Bjã¸rnstad.
Often in North america we have one or two discrete early cohorts because winter synchronizes them
The tea tortrix starts out in this way but the researchers found that desynchronization does not occur.
and the developmental rate of the tea tortrix is said high Bjã¸rnstad. The population grows very fast
To better understand how temperature influences tea tortrix and other insect populations the researchers developed a mathematical population model that is based on the insect life cycle
and the effects of temperature on individual stages and used this to predict population dynamics.
The model is developed to represent the biology of the insect said Nelson. It is developed realistic fully and parameterized independently of the field data.
We documented that temperature itself is destabilizing to the dynamics of this pest. This is the first clear demonstration that temperature has the ability to alter those dynamics causing large cycles in the insect.
The researchers believe that these mechanisms have implications for what might happen faced with global warming.
Even a smaller partial shift from crop-intensive livestock such as feedlot beef to food animals such as chicken or pork could increase agricultural efficiency
and exports and calculating conversion efficiencies of animal feed using U s. Department of agriculture data. The researchers assumed humans need an average of 2700 calories per day
and grazing lands and animals were included not in the study. Among the team's findings: In addition to the global findings the research team looked at allocation of crop calories in four key countries:
while a complete shift from animal to plant-based diets may not be feasible even a partial shift would benefit food security.
and pests we can find ways of using existing croplands more efficiently. In addition to her role as Global Landscapes Initiative graduate research assistant with the Institute on the Environment Cassidy is a graduate student in the Natural resources Science
The researchers led by Sara Jaeger Jeremy Mcrae and Richard Newcomb of Plant and Food Research in New zealand found that for four of the ten odors tested there was indeed a genetic association suggesting that differences in the genetic make-up determine
Alex Feldwinn a computer technician in the Life science Computing Group at UCSB said It really smells like a dead animal--not just a dead animal but a rotting one.
Heat enables the smell to go farther attracting more pollinating insects and increasing the chance of pollination.
The data provided by this series of photographs will help us understand how the Titan arum uses thermal energy to attract pollinators said Taber.
In a new study in the Journal of Animal Science researchers in Europe studied how different types of flooring affects claw and limb lesions locomotion and flooring cleanliness.
The researchers scored locomotion and claw and limb lesion of the replacement gilts and flooring cleanliness periodically.
#Mini-monsters of the forest floora University of Utah biologist has identified 33 new species of predatory ants in Central america and the Caribbean and named about a third of the tiny but monstrous-looking insects
These new ant species are the stuff of nightmares when viewed under a microscope says entomologist Jack Longino a professor of biology.
and refers to the club-shaped hairs on many Eurhopalothrix (pronounced you-row-pal-oh-thrix) species. In another upcoming study accepted for publication in the same journal Longino identified 19 new ant species from the genus
and described differences from 15 other previously known species. The genus name means eight swellings for the ants'eight-segmented antennas.
The new ant species are less than one-twelfth to one-twenty-fifth of an inch long--much smaller than a rice grain
or common half-inch-long household ants --and live in the rotting wood and dead leaves that litter the forest floors in Central america.
No one knows how they find their prey presumed to be bodied soft insects spiders millipedes and centipedes.
But the ants are known to coat themselves with a thin layer of clay believed to serve as camouflage.
--Eurhopalothrix zipacna named for a violent crocodile-like Mayan demon and found in Guatemala and Honduras.--Eurhopalothrix xibalba or a place of fear for the underworld ruled by death gods in certain Mayan mythology.
Ants are everywhere Longino says. They are one of the big elements of ecosystems like birds and trees.
They are major movers of stuff. Some act as predators and influence the population sizes of other insects by eating them.
They gather a lot of dead insects and eat them so they are like vultures at a microscale.
They move seeds around and have a big impact on what kind of plants grow where.
They aerate soil and do a lot of excavation. Having aerated soil is good for plants--it lets oxygen get into the soil
So far there are about 15000 known species of ants worldwide based largely on difference in body structure and perhaps as many as 30000.
But as geneticists analyze more and more ants new genetic differences are becoming apparent and so there could be 100000 ant species Longino said.
The world has known some 700000 insect species but that number likely will climb much higher as more are discovered.
Longino says 70 percent to 80 percent of all known species are insects. The 33 new species bring the number of ant species Longino has discovered during his career to 131.
The adult ants eat only liquids not solid food. So they bring their prey back to the nest where it is eaten by ant larvae
which regurgitate it so it can be consumed by the adults Longino says. Most modern ants no longer are predators some
of which use venoms to sting their prey but instead are scavengers like those that pick up crumbs off kitchen floors
and spray formic acid to fight off other ants. Sifting for Antslongino collected about 90 percent of the ants in his new studies during the past 30 years working on a series of projects to inventory insects spiders
and other arthropods in Costa rica Mexico Nicaragua Guatemala and Honduras. Many of the species also are in the Caribbean and South america.
He says that his job as a taxonomist is not only to find and describe new species
but to map all species old and new to shed light on Earth's biodiversity and identify possible pest species
and other species that might be used to control pests. The new ant species are not agricultural pests.
To collect insects Longino and his students use sifting devices that look somewhat like a pair of tennis rackets with canvas bags beneath them.
The researchers use machetes to chop up dead wood and leaf litter and pour it through sifters
which have wire mesh with third-inch-wide openings. The tiny ants end up in the collection bags with
what looks like potting soil. This mixture then is placed in mesh bags suspended over funnels that in turn are above plastic bags containing alcohol to kill
and preserve the ants that pass through the mesh bags. The ants then are brought home for analysis. Taxonomy
or classification of living things is in frequent flux. Longino says he thinks of species as hypotheses not definite never-changing labels.
and perhaps redefine classifications for ants in four or five ant genuses or genera. Some species are likely to end up in a different genus after such research is done he says.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011