The report identifies 33 species like the northern bobwhite quail grasshopper sparrow and bank swallow that do not meet the Watch List criteria
and termites) and about 60%comes from human activities like cattle breeding rice agriculture fossil fuel exploitation landfills and biomass burning.
The MODIS or Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer is an instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.
For example the crop wild relative of the wheat crop Aegilops tauschii is resistant to Hessian fly
#Speckled beetle key to saving crops in Ethiopia, researchers sayan invasive weed poses a serious and frightening threat to farming families in Ethiopia
a tiny speckled beetle. The weed called parthenium is so destructive that farmers in the east African nation have given despairingly it the nickname faramsissa in Amharic
Extensive research has shown us that the beetle eats and breeds only on parthenium leaves said Muni Muniappan director of the Integrated Pest Management Innovation Lab a program funded by the U s. Agency for International Development.
The Innovation Lab built a quarantine facility in 2007 to ensure that the pea-sized beetle had eyes for parthenium alone.
and extension agents to construct a breeding facility and increase the number of beetles. Finally on July 16 the Innovation Lab team joined a group of about 30 scientists
and farmers in Wollenchitti Ethiopia to release the insects. The group moved from parthenium patch to parthenium patch dumping beetles from containers.
Ethiopian researchers will monitor the sites and assess the impact. As a second step scientists are poised to release a stem-boring weevil that will join Zygogramma.
But even these measures will not eliminate parthenium from Ethiopian farmland. Biocontrol is control not eradication said Witt.
and importance to the health of the landscape he noted citing wetlands teaming with birds amphibians and beneficial insects.
Scientists theorize that the chemical may help plants repel insects or stunt competitors'growth. One recent paper showed that pollinators--like humans--may develop caffeine habits.
Insects that visited caffeine-producing plants often returned to get another taste. The new Science study doesn't offer new ideas about the evolutionary role of caffeine
but it does reinforce the idea that the compound is a valuable asset. It also provides the opportunity to better understand the evolution of coffee's genome structure.
Previous research suggested that plant climbing might be a way for salamanders to access additional prey items like aphids
The dominant groups were mites millipedes beetles and an assortment of ants said Carrel. What was surprising was that the salamanders collected on trees did not have anything one would associate with a plant-feeding insect like aphids.
The diet of the salamanders captured on the ground was the same as the diet of salamanders captured sitting high up on vegetation.
We found no evidence that climbing allows these salamanders to more fully exploit available food resources
management optionsthe brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) is an invasive herbivorous insect species that was introduced accidentally to the United states from Asia.
The insect is capable of eating more than 100 different plant species and in 2010 it caused $37 million worth of damage to apples alone.
along with a list of natural insect enemies that can potentially be used for biological control programs.
#Asian camel crickets now common in U s. homeswith their long spiky legs and their propensity for eating anything including each other camel crickets are the stuff of nightmares.
And now research from North carolina State university finds that nonnative camel cricket species have spread into homes across the eastern United states. The good news is that camel crickets don't bite
when a cricket taxonomist found an invasive cricket in the home of one of the NC State researchers.
whether they had camel crickets (also known as cave crickets) in their homes and if so to send in photos or mail in physical specimens.
The most common species reported by more than 90 percent of respondents was the greenhouse camel cricket (Diestrammena asynamora.
Instead the researchers found that it is now far more common than native camel crickets in and near homes east of the Mississippi.
though it's possible that the greenhouse camel cricket could be driving out native camel cricket species in homes Epps says.
They found large numbers of greenhouse camel crickets with higher numbers being found in the areas of the yards closest to homes.
if they find camel crickets in their homes. Because they are scavengers camel crickets may actually provide an important service in our basements
or garages eating the dead stuff that accumulates there says Dr. Holly Menninger director of public science in the Your Wild Life lab at NC State
We know remarkably little about these camel crickets such as their biology or how they interact with other species Menninger says.
#Greenhouse whitefly: Will the unwanted greenhouse guest make it in the wild? Greenhouses have improved the possibilities of invasion of greenhouse whitefly into the wild in the boreal region new study finds.
Genetic analysis sheds new light on the survival of whiteflies in Finland and helps to plan efficient pest management.
Irina Ovcarenko research scientist at the MTT Agrifood Research Finland has studied genetic diversity and ecology of greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum) in her thesis. Greenhouse whitefly is a widespread invasive pest
which has occurred in Finland since the year 1920. It does not belong to the original fauna of the country
Genetic analyses revealed that the same whitefly populations persist in the majority of the sampled greenhouses for two years.
Year-round greenhouse crop producers should avoid planting new crop without complete extermination of whiteflies not only from the old crop but also from the greenhouse premises Ovcarenko says.
Insecticide-treated populations able to recoverovcarenko's findings show that genetic diversity of greenhouse whitefly is lower in the Finnish greenhouses compared with Greece where whiteflies are able to persist outdoors all year round.
Furthermore global genetic diversity of greenhouse whitefly is low. Generally low genetic diversity results in species'decreased ability to adapt.
However whiteflies are able to recover from insecticide treatments and maintain even high levels of genetic diversity in their local populations.
and no signs of harmful genetic bottlenecks in whiteflies from greenhouses where new crops are planted every year
Whitefly is a generalist herbivore which feeds on many plant species but it may also specialize in feeding on greenhouse crops.
Despite initial signs of host race formation whiteflies prefer natural species to cultivated crops as host plants which could facilitate pest dispersal into natural vegetation in spring.
Whiteflies are able to use numerous outdoor plants around greenhouses as seasonal habitats in summer.
The same population of whiteflies may therefore return from these wild plants to newly planted greenhouse crops in August
Biological pest control pays offthe study showed that resistance to common insecticide pymetrozine varies considerably among the Finnish whitefly populations.
If biological pest control was used whitefly populations were more susceptible to insecticides whereas whiteflies from greenhouses treated with insecticides over the years showed initial signs of resistance development.
The most important step to reduce crop damage and tackle invasion is to standardize practices in dense greenhouse areas.
The study has motivated farmers to exchange information and monitor whiteflies outside greenhouses in potato and strawberry fields.
and eventually evolving the ability to glide and fly. He has documented many ways that animals in the wild from lizards
and lemurs to ants use various parts of their bodies to avoid hard landings on the ground.
To find new weapons especially against superbugs that resist nearly all antibiotics synthetic chemists pursue the complex process of mimicking the structures of effective natural molecules as they build drug candidates atom by atom.
Crop pests include fungi bacteria viruses insects nematodes viroids and oomycetes. The research published in the journal Global Ecology
When Devore and Maerz originally found lower survival of American toads at eight locations in Georgia where stiltgrass is actively invading they initially speculated that the grass was reducing the toads'food supply by reducing insect populations--few native insects eat the Asian
#Museum specimens, modern cities show how an insect pest will respond to climate changeresearchers from North carolina State university have found that century-old museum specimens hold clues to how global climate change
will affect a common insect pest that can weaken and kill trees --and the news is not good.
Recent studies found that scale insect populations increase on oak and maple trees in warmer urban areas which raises the possibility that these pests may also increase with global warming says Dr. Elsa Youngsteadt a research associate at NC State
More scale insects would be a problem since scales can weaken or kill the trees they live on Youngsteadt says.
whether warming causes scale insect population explosions in rural forests the way it does in cities.
and Georgia. By evaluating the scale insect remains attached to each specimen Youngsteadt estimated scale population density
Scale insect density in rural areas was not as high as it was in the city but there was a common pattern Youngsteadt says Scale insects were most likely to be present on specimens collected during warm historical time periods
and scales were most abundant when temperatures were similar to modern urban Raleigh. Given the shared urban and historical pattern the researchers also predicted that scale insects would be more abundant in rural forests today than in the past as a result of recent climate warming.
To test this prediction Youngsteadt went to 20 sites where historical specimens were collected from 1970 to 1997
and sampled their modern scale insect populations. Sure enough scale abundance had increased at 16 of the 20 sites Youngsteadt says.
Overall we found a total of about five times more scale insects in 2013 than on the historical specimens from the same locations.
The urban and historical data are aligned so well that we can view scale insect populations in cities as a preview of what to expect elsewhere Youngsteadt adds.
It also suggests that we should begin looking at cities for clues to how other insect species will respond to higher global temperatures.
which showed that two species of scale insects infesting maple and oak benefit from urban warming.
whether oestrus could be stimulated while sows were still feeding their piglets so the sows could be mated before their piglets were weaned.
The research showed that providing sows daily contact with a mature male pig seven days after giving birth is sufficient to stimulate oestrus regardless of
Allergic reactions can have various symptoms including hives swelling of the lips vomiting breathing difficulties and anaphylactic shock.
#Evolutionary history of honeybees revealed by genomicsin a study published in Nature Genetics researchers from Uppsala University present the first global analysis of genome variation in honeybees.
The findings show a surprisingly high level of genetic diversity in honeybees and indicate that the species most probably originates from Asia
The honeybee (Apis mellifera) is of crucial importance for humanity. One third of our food is dependent on the pollination of fruits nuts and vegetables by bees and other insects.
Extensive losses of honeybee colonies in recent years are a major cause for concern. Honeybees face threats from disease climate change and management practices.
To combat these threats it is important to understand the evolutionary history of honeybees and how they are adapted to different environments across the world.
We have used state-of-the-art high-throughput genomics to address these questions and have identified high levels of genetic diversity in honeybees.
In contrast to other domestic species management of honeybees seems to have increased levels of genetic variation by mixing bees from different parts of the world.
The findings may also indicate that high levels of inbreeding are not a major cause of global colony losses says Matthew Webster researcher at the department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology Uppsala University.
Another unexpected result was that honeybees seem to be derived from an ancient lineage of cavity-nesting bees that arrived from Asia around 300000 years ago and rapidly spread across Europe and Africa.
This stands in contrast to previous research that suggests that honeybees originate from Africa. The evolutionary tree we constructed from genome sequences does not support an origin in Africa this gives us new insight into how honeybees spread
and became adapted to habitats across the world says Matthew Webster. Hidden in the patterns of genome variation are signals that indicate large cyclical fluctuations in population size that mirror historical patterns of glaciation.
This indicates that climate change has impacted strongly honeybee populations historically. Populations in Europe appear to have contracted during ice ages
whereas African populations have expanded at those times suggesting that environmental conditions there were more favourable says Matthew Webster.
and adaptation to climate knowledge that could be vital for protecting honeybees in a rapidly changing world says Matthew Webster.
Feasting on nectar and the occasional insect the tiny birds expanded throughout North and South america numbering more than 300 species over the 40 to 72 million years
Virus infections after arrival of new parasitic mite in New zealand honeybee colonieshoneybee colonies are dying at alarming rates worldwide.
An article published on August 21st in PLOS Pathogens examines the viral landscape in honeybee colonies in New zealand after the recent arrival of the parasitic Varroa destructor mite.
and adult bees the mites can transmit several honeybee viruses with high efficiency. Uncontrolled Varroa infestation can thereby cause an accelerating virus epidemic and so kill a bee colony within two to three years.
As they report the arrival of Varroa dramatically changed the viral landscape within the honeybee colonies of New zealand.
However in contrast to DWV KBV abundance peaks two years after an initial Varroa infestation and subsequently disappears from the colonies entirely leaving DWV as the dominant honeybee virus in long-term Varroa-infested areas.
The researchers say that the results of their study strengthen the idea that the multiple virus infestations in honeybees interact to create a dynamic and turbulent pathological landscape
For example KBV could play a key role in the dramatic honeybee colony weakening observed during the first years of Varroa infestation.
but obtain resources by hunting large and small animals and gathering fruit nuts insects and other available resources.
and insect numbers for the quail to eat and for a time quail numbers swelled.
That created a population explosion of insects particularly crickets which carry the eyeworm in a larval state.
I'm convinced based on our data that the conditions may have been right to precipitate a massive insect population explosion
Kendall believes that by eating crickets infected with eyeworms quail were actually swallowing a poisoned pill.
which in turn would be eaten by more crickets. There's evidence of eyeworms all over the Rolling Plains now he said.
Tall fast-growing trees access more sunlight and can capture more energy through photosynthesis. They are more obvious to pollinators
#Genetically engineered fruit flies could save cropsreleasing genetically engineered fruit flies into the wild could prove to be a cheap effective and environmentally friendly way of pest control according to scientists at the University of East Anglia andâ Oxitecâ Ltd.
New research published today reveals how the release of genetically engineered male flies could be used as an effective population suppression method â#saving crops around the world.
The Mediterranean fruit fly is a serious agricultural pest which causes extensive damage to crops. It is controlled currently by a combination of insecticides baited traps biological control
and releasing sterilised insects to produce nonviable matings known as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). Researchers simulated a wild environment within greenhouses in Crete
and studied the impact of releasing Oxitec flies. Lead researcher Dr Philip Leftwich from UEAÂ##s school of Biological sciences and Oxitec said:
â#oethe Mediterranean fruit fly infests more than 300 types of cultivated and wild fruits vegetables and nuts.
and causes extreme damage to crops all around the world. â#oeof all of the current techniques used to control these flies SIT is considered the most environmentally friendly as it uses sterile males to interrupt matings between wild males and females.
because the irradiation method used for sterilisation weakens them. â#oeour research looked at whether releasing Oxitec flies
so that only male fly offspring survive could provide a better alternative. â#oethe genetically engineered flies are not sterile
and we have shown they are healthier than the flies traditionally used for SIT. â#oewe simulated a wild environment within secure eight-meter greenhouses containing lemon trees at the University of Crete.
When we tested the release of the genetically modified male flies we found that they were capable of producing rapid population collapse in our closed system. â#oethis method presents a cheap and effective alternative to irradiation.
We believe this is a promising new tool to deal with insects which is both environmentally friendly and effective. â#The Oxitec method works by introducing a female-specific gene into the insects that interrupts development before females reach a reproductive stage.
Populations of healthy males and females can be produced in controlled environments by the addition of a chemical repressor.
Eastern hemlock trees have died throughout much of their range due to the hemlock woolly adelgid an exotic invasive insect said Steven Brantley a postdoctoral researcher at Coweeta
Though this insect has decimated whole stands of eastern hemlock along streams in the southern Appalachians few studies have addressed the effects of this insect outbreak on landscape-level watershed processes such as stream flow.
Since hemlock woolly adelgid was detected first in 2003 all the eastern hemlock trees in both watersheds died resulting in a loss of 26 percent of forest basal area (that area occupied by tree trunks
#Fipronil, imidacloprid reduce honeybee mitochondrial activitynew research published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry addresses the effects of two broad-spectrum systemic insecticides fipornil and imidacloprid on honeybees.
These insecticides are used widely in agriculture and the authors conclude that fipronil and imidacloprid are inhibitors of mitochondrial bioenergetics resulting in depleted cell energy.
This action can explain the toxicity of these compounds for honeybees. Scientists are urgently trying to determine the causes of colony collapse disorder and the alarming population declines of honeybees.
The cross-pollination services they provide are required by approximately 80 percent of all flowering plants and 1/3 of all agricultural food production directly depends on bee pollination.
As a result there has been a flurry of research on honeybee parasitic mite infestations viral diseases and the direct and indirect impacts of pesticides.
Sublethal effects related to insect behavior have been described in other studies; even a few nanograms of active ingredient disturbed the sense of taste olfactory learning and motor activity of the bees.
A key characteristic of colony collapse disorder is the incapacity of the honey bees to return to their hives
In this study Nicodemo et al. looked at the effects of fipronil and imidacloprid on the bioenergetics functioning of mitochondria isolated from the heads and thoraces of Africanized honeybees.
Honeybee flight muscles are strongly dependent on high levels of oxygen consumption and energy metabolism. Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation drives ATP synthesis which is required to contract the muscles during flight.
Similar to a plane honeybees require clean fuel in order to fly. Both fipronil and imidacloprid negatively affected the mitochondrial bioenergetics of the head and thorax of the honeybees.
While at sublethal levels insecticide damage may not be evident even such low level exposure clearly contributes to the inability of a honeybee to forage
and return to the hive which could result in declining bee populations. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Vaccinating cows could answer serum shortageby many estimates an Ebola vaccine could be available in humans as early as next year.
Insects and rodents seemed to be unimportant. Truck conditions and bad weather were the top factors to blame for loss
Insect aggression boosted by altering brain metabolismscientists report they can crank up insect aggression simply by interfering with a basic metabolic pathway in the insect brain.
Their study of fruit flies and honey bees shows a direct causal link between brain metabolism (how the brain generates the energy it needs to function) and aggression.
In separate experiments postdoctoral researcher Hongmei Li-Byarlay and undergraduate student Jonathan Massey found that reduced oxidative phosphorylation in fruit flies also increased aggression.
Because fruit flies and honey bees are separated by 300 million years of evolution this is a very robust and well-conserved mechanism he said.
A new international study published this week in Nature Climate Change shows that damage from wind bark beetles
while bark beetle damage increased most strongly in The alps. Wind damage would be seen to rise most notably in Central and Western europe.
Based on invertebrate surveys primarily representing butterflies dung beetles and ants Burivalova and her colleagues found further diversity losses with logging.
Surprisingly they found that the number of bird species can actually increase in selectively logged areas likely
#Study advances DNA revolution, tells butterflies evolutionary historyby tracing nearly 3000 genes to the earliest common ancestor of butterflies
and moths University of Florida scientists have created an extensive Tree of Lepidoptera in the first study to use large-scale next-generation DNA sequencing.
Butterflies are more closely related to small moths than to large ones which completely changes scientists'understanding of how butterflies evolved.
The study also found that some insects once classified as moths are actually butterflies increasing the number of butterfly species higher than previously thought.
This project advances biodiversity research by providing an evolutionary foundation for a very diverse group of insects with nearly 160000 described species said Akito Kawahara lead author
and assistant curator of Lepidoptera at the Florida Museum of Natural history on the UF campus. With a tree we can now understand how the majority of butterfly
and moth species evolved. Available online and to be published in the August print edition of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B:
Biological sciences the study builds the evolutionary framework for future ecological and genetics research of insects Kawahara said.
There is a DNA revolution taking place Kawahara said. This is an important time in the history of science
Kawahara said the yearlong study is one of the first to utilize a massive amount of genetic data to answer questions about the history of butterflies and moths.
The analysis reveals monumental discoveries about the lineage of Lepidoptera including strongly contradicting the traditional placement of butterflies in evolutionary history Kawahara said.
Using next-generation sequencing a method used to rapidly process large amounts of DNA scientists developed an initial sample of 46 species that represent many of the most bio diverse groups of moths and butterflies.
Daniel Rubinoff entomologist and director of the University of Hawaii Insect Museum said the new study will help scientists conclusively pinpoint where butterflies belong in evolutionary history--a question that has troubled long researchers.
and conclusively demonstrating the evolutionary relationships of the most popular insects on the planet Rubinoff said.
The wispy delicate nature of butterflies and moths is part of their charm but their soft-bodied larval stages have posed a problem for scientists studying them in the fossil record.
The few Lepidoptera fossils we have are from about 15 million years ago Breinholt said.
Previous research based on anatomical features hypothesized that butterflies are close relatives of large moths but the new tree suggests butterflies are more closely related to small (micro) moths Kawahara said.
The study also suggests butterflies are the ancestral group to the tens of thousands of moth species on the planet
and the Hedylidae family commonly known as American butterfly-moths were dismissed as moths and found to be true butterflies.
The tree also provides a baseline to test whether diurnal or daytime activity a common butterfly trait evolved much earlier than scientists previously believed possibly at a time
when bats'spread across the planet as a means of escaping these and other nocturnal predators Kawahara said.
Future research will investigate the causes of evolutionary transitions such as diurnal activity across Lepidoptera. Breinholt said although the new tree clarifies our understanding of butterfly
and moth relationships many lineages still need to be examined. I hope this is a starting point for larger studies that account for the great diversity of Lepidoptera Breinholt said.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of Florida. The original article was written by Stephenie Livingston.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Panthers prey on ranchers calves, but amount varies, Florida study findsa two-year panther study at two southwest Florida cattle ranches shows that the endangered cats attack
and kill calves but how often that happens can vary greatly by location and landscape.
The study used bumblebee foragers housed under controlled conditions to test whether they do learn about flowers during pollen collection.
Their results show that bumblebees can individually assess pollen samples and discriminate between them during collection quickly forming preferences for a particular type of pollen.
Since bumblebees don't eat pollen when foraging it was unclear if or how they might be able to assess differences in quality.
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