While wild species of bees and other insects pollinate many crops commercially-reared and imported bumblebees are essential for pollination of greenhouse crops such as tomatoes.
Many animals and insects can see polarized light and use it for navigation communication and more.
and insects that see polarized light said Franã§ois L onard at Sandia National Laboratories one of the lead researchers on the study.
As the landing place for early American colonists and continuing with the industrialization and proliferation of cargo imports the Northeast has been receiving invasive forest insects far longer than anywhere else in the nation.
In terms of invasive forest insects tree species diversity works against Northeastern forests. The Northeast has an abundance of diverse hardwood tree species
and 65 percent of the insect and pathogen invaders included in this study colonize hardwood tree species said Liebhold a research entomologist with the U s. Forest Service's Northern Research Station.
Had these nonnative insects disembarked in a forest that is predominately pine for example most wouldn't have survived to become the damaging nonnative forest pests that they are today.
Establishment of both European and Asian forest insects and pathogens in North america has likely been facilitated by the similarity of the flora among these three continents the study suggests.
In the most populated corner of the United states inadvertent human assistance has enhanced greatly insects'ability to spread from the initial point of invasion throughout a region.
and insect-resistant crops based on RNA interference now in exploratory development may have to be tested under elaborate procedures that assess effects on animals'whole life cycles rather than by methods that look for short-term toxicity.
however successfully artificial interfering RNAS that target genes in insect pests slowing their growth or killing them.
The safety concern as with other types of genetic modification and with pesticides generally is that the artificial interfering RNAS will also harm desirable insects or other animals.
Accordingly plants that were defended well against voracious insects were the most successful ones in the long run. Our results are in line with general theories on community assembly
Birdsalso eat insects that can be agricultural pests. However rising temperatures threaten wild birds including the Missouri-native Acadian flycatcher by making snakes more active according to University of Missouri biologist John Faaborg.
and causes increases in algal blooms greenhouse gases and insects like mosquitoes that carry disease.
One of the keys to the success of this research was our cloning of a mosquito sodium channel for the first time said Ke Dong MSU insect toxicologist and neurobiologist and the paper's senior author.
but also helps answer why they affect insects but not humans and other mammals. Since this is a growing issue with cockroaches bedbugs fleas potato beetles
Such changes are known to reduce the lifespan of the most widely studied insect the common fruit fly
and have welcomed the recent approach by the European commission to temporarily ban three neonicotinoid pesticides as this will allow for research into the impact on both pollinators and agricultural productivity.
A team of researchers from Switzerland found that the odor released by maize plants under attack by insects attract not only parasitic wasps
which prey on herbivorous insects but also caterpillars of the Egyptian cotton leafworm moth Spodoptera littoralis a species that feeds on maize leaves.
These volatile organic compounds are known to be attractive to parasitoid wasps that lay their eggs inside other insects killing them Plants appear to use this strategy to fight back against herbivorous insects by calling for their enemies'enemies.
In contrast herbivorous insects tend to avoid the herbivore-induced volatile organic compounds. Adult moths and butterflies avoid food plants that are under attack by conspecifics.
the chemical is derived from an African chrysanthemumand acts by blocking chemical signals at nerve junctions in insects.
and some growers apply large quantities of numerous pesticides to deter a wide range of animals and insects from encroaching on their crops.
because unlike their larger bodied relatives in other parts of the country that eat larger prey their diet consists of small mammals birds carrion insects fungi and other plant material.
or dying insects and small mammals are often found. In this study scientists reported on the amount of poisons found at over 300 illegal plots
and some growers apply large quantities of numerous pesticides to deter a wide range of animals and insects from encroaching on their crops.
because unlike their larger bodied relatives in other parts of the country that eat larger prey their diet consists of small mammals birds carrion insects fungi and other plant material.
or dying insects and small mammals are often found. In this study scientists reported on the amount of poisons found at over 300 illegal plots
These insects they have only one generation per year said University of Illinois entomology department senior scientist Manfredo Seufferheld who led the study.
What allowed this insect to adapt so fast? These bacteria perhaps. Controlling rootworms is an expensive concern faced by all Midwest corn growers said study co-author Joseph Spencer an insect behaviorist at the Illinois Natural history Survey (part of the Prairie Research Institute
at the U. of I.).Yield losses the use of insecticides and corn hybrids engineered to express rootworm-killing toxins in their tissues cost U s. growers at least $1 billion a year.
The beetles'gut microbial structure corresponded to the insects'level of activity (rotation-resistant rootworms are usually more active)
They are very active players in the adaptation of the insect he said. The microbial community acts as a versatile multicellular organ.
The research is a follow-up to her team's award-winning 2012 study of the ways that plants use their internal circadian clocks to defend themselves from hungry insects.
That study found that Arabidopsis thaliana--a widely used model organism for plant studies--begins ramping up production of insect-fighting chemicals a few hours before sunrise the time that hungry insects begin to feed.
and insect resistance and he said'Well I know what time of day I'll eat my vegetables!'
when they would be accumulating the anti-insect chemicals but I knew that some of those chemicals were known to be valuable metabolites for human health so
What we have shown is that keeping the internal clock ticking is advantageous with respect to insect resistance
and Wassim Chehab found they could manipulate cabbage leaves to increase their production of anti-insect metabolites at certain times of day.
which would definitely kill other insects. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Pensoft Publishers.
Pesticides are used in domestic environments to control infestations of insects or other living creatures explains Sabrina Llop from the Higher Public health Research Centre (CSISP) in Valencia the leading author of the paper.
and visualize individual neurons in the insect brain. Kenyon cells receive sensory inputs from organs that perceive smell taste sight and sound.
In both Europe and Australia the researchers were able to demonstrate considerable losses in the regional biodiversity of aquatic insects and other freshwater invertebrates.
if its queen has had limited a number of mates. We wanted to determine whether a colony's genetic diversity has an impact on its survival and
Tarpy took genetic samples from 80 commercial colonies of honey bees (Apis mellifera) in the eastern United states to assess each colony's genetic diversity which reflects the number of males a colony's queen has mated with.
The more mates a queen has had the higher the genetic diversity in the colony. The researchers then tracked the health of the colonies on an almost monthly basis over the course of 10 months
The researchers found that colonies where the queen had mated at least seven times were 2. 86 times more likely to survive the 10-month working season.
Specifically 48 percent of colonies with queens who had mated at least seven times were still alive at the end of the season.
A peek into UW-Madison's resident colony in the Microbial Sciences Building reveals a metropolis of brown insects bustling around the pale pitted surface of the fungus garden many with leaf sections held aloft.
To put their findings in perspective the researchers plan to study other insects in addition to ants including certain species of termites and beetles
or responding to drought insects or pathogens says Katherine Chang the first author of the paper
and with the data accumulated over that period we have a better scientific understanding of how fast the insects evolve resistance and why.
inheritance of resistance is recessive--meaning insects survive on Bt plants only if have two copies of a resistance gene one from each parent
Planting refuges near Bt crops reduces the chances that two resistant insects will mate with each other making it more likely they will breed with a susceptible mate yielding offspring that are killed by the Bt crop.
Kongming Wu director of the Institute for Plant Protection at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing said This review paper will be very helpful for understanding insect resistance in agricultural systems
For decades researchers have struggled to understand why many different organisms--trees fish corals insects--from various habitats reproduce synchronously
#Pollinators easily enhanced by flowering agri-environment schemesagri-environment schemes aimed to promote biodiversity on farmland have positive effects on wild bees hoverflies and butterflies.
and pesticides generally hosted more wild pollinators than conventionally farmed land. Jeroen Scheper of Alterra Research Institute and colleagues demonstrated this by analysing the results of 71 studies that had looked at the effects of implementing agri-environment schemes in various European countries.'
whether the results indicate that agri-environment schemes boost pollinator populations or that they temporarily attract pollinators from surrounding areas.
Positive effects were restricted to very common species . However recently there has been a lot of concern that the decline of pollinators might result in pollination limitation of insect-pollinated crops.
Wild bees are excellent pollinators and common species do just the trick. All you have to do to enhance the wild pollinators of crops on farmland is increase flower abundance in field margins roadsides or crop edges.'
'The examined agri-environment schemes seem less effective in enhancing endangered pollinator species. Endangered species were observed rarely during the field studies.'
'Most of the studies used for the analyses were carried out in Northwestern Europe where farming is relatively intensive.
In these areas endangered species are restricted to semi-natural habitats and nature reserves. Also endangered bee species often specialize on flowers that cannot easily be established on farmland such as heather or bilberry.
The conservation of Red data book pollinators seems to require a separate conservation strategy'.'Rachael Winfree a leading pollination scientist from Rutgers University New jersey USA comments'This is an interesting timely and comprehensive study that tests several ecological hypotheses to answer an important question:
Where and how should we restore pollinators on agricultural lands? Given the global interest in pollinator declines and the considerable government funding going into pollinator restorations in the USA
and EU this work will have important policy implications. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Pensoft Publishers.
when human ancestors began getting much of their grass by eating grass-eating insects or meat from grazing animals.
if they were eating insects or if they were eating mixes of all of these. Why Our Ancestor's Diets Matterthe earliest human ancestor to consume substantial amounts of grassy foods from dry more open savannas may signal a major and ecological and adaptive divergence from the last common ancestor we shared with African great apes
If early humans ate grass-eating insects or large grazing animals like zebras wildebeest and buffalo it also would appear they ate C4 grasses.
to be attacked by insects and other predators and to avoid competing against other caterpillars of the same species for resources.
10.7554/elife. 00421) Green leaf odorsplants have developed many different strategies to defend themselves against herbivorous animals particularly insects.
In addition to mechanical defenses such as thorns and spines plants also produce compounds that keep insects and other herbivores at bay by acting as repellents or toxins.
In an effort to defend itself the host plant releases green-leaf volatiles to attract various species of Geocoris predatory bugs that eat insect eggs and tiny larvae.
and may provide further insights into odor-guided behavior of insects in nature and agriculture.
in order to deter ovipositing insects from field crops and thereby reduce insect infestation. Mclennan/AO/JWK Story Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
This gene is the insect equivalent of a transcription factor found in mammals. Transcription factors regulate the activity of other genes.
or look pretty attract insect pollenators so they are not generally important allergens because their pollen is not airborne.
and flowering trees like the Bradford pear and Crabapple but they are not typically allergens as they rely on insects instead of the wind to carry their pollen.
The disease is common in poor communities where homes may not have adequate screens to keep flying insects out.
and recognized the insect as unusual. When Guek was able to collect a specimen it was sent to Stephen Brooks at London's Natural history Museum who confirmed its new species status. The three joined forces
Living species of hangingflies can be found as the name suggests hanging beneath foliage where they capture other insects as food.
and represent a rare example of an insect mimicking a gymnosperm 165 million years ago before an explosive radiation of flowering plants.
#Bee and wild flower biodiversity loss slowsdeclines in the biodiversity of pollinating insects and wild plants have slowed in recent years according to a new study.
but what we are seeing is a significant slowing or reversal of the declines for wild plants and their insect pollinators.
and we know that most crop pollination is done by wild pollinators. Biodiversity is important to ensuring we don't lose that service.
However while we can use biodiversity records to measure changes in the diversity of pollinators we can't tell what's happening to their overall abundance
Hoverflies and other insects are attracted to flowers because they can find food in the form of pollen and nectar.
when the researchers found a diverse community of spiders and predatory insects in the plots with sweet alyssum.
and later captured insects and spiders at a distance from the flower plots. Many of the insects and spiders tested positive for the proteins proving that they had visited the flowers.
The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid attacking tree shoots and roots said Betsy Beers an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research
Hoverflies and other insects are attracted to flowers because they can find food in the form of pollen and nectar.
when the researchers found a diverse community of spiders and predatory insects in the plots with sweet alyssum.
and later captured insects and spiders at a distance from the flower plots. Many of the insects and spiders tested positive for the proteins proving that they had visited the flowers.
The woolly apple aphid is surprisingly damaging for an aphid attacking tree shoots and roots said Betsy Beers an entomologist based at WSU's Tree Fruit Research
and water and its flowers generate heat to attract pollinators. Now researchers report in the journal Genome Biology that they have sequenced the lotus genome
The hemlock woolly adelgid an exotic invasive insect has caused widespread hemlock mortality says Steven Brantley a postdoctoral researcher at Coweeta
and are highly attractive to beneficial native insects including the natural enemies of agricultural pests.
because most models don't account for random events such as fire drought and insects that kill already-stressed trees.
But scientists now warn that other nerve agents targeting insect pests may also be harming bees and other pollinators.
He recently published a studyshowing neonicotinoids hit bumblebee colony growth and queen production. He also said:
beneficial insects such as ladybirds and bees are exposed to lots of different chemicals and we have a really poor understanding of
Julian Little spokesperson for Bayer Cropscience based in Norwich UK says the evidence against these pesticides has all been based lab essentially taking a social insect
But he also agrees more monitoring of pollinators is needed. Where you do get large-scale bee deaths not enough has been done to know exactly what has happened Little commented.
This is a great opportunity for farmers to adopt these practices to protect bees and other pollinators.
Indeed he believes farmers will benefit from healthy pollinator populations as they provide substantial economic benefits to crop pollination.
which is used against insects and Roundup Original MAX which is a common herbicide used against weeds.
However honey bees have relatively few genes dedicated to this detoxification process compared to other insect species she said.
They also found more insects and the particular focus of the study higher densities of a native species of gecko Lygodactylus keniensis.
and small invertebrates such as insect larvae worms and snails when fruits are said scarce Dr. Keuroghlian.
In both cases plants are surrounded by numerous organisms such as weeds pollinating insects fungi blights and diseases and their natural enemies all engaged in the struggle for existence.
The seasonal timing of trees and insects advance too but songbirds like Parus major or the great tit lag behind.
Current fertilization practices may not match the uptake capabilities of hybrids that contain transgenic insect protection
The study examined six hybrids each with transgenic insect protection at two Illinois locations Dekalb and Urbana.
Pesticides kill protein-rich insects that bustard chicks rely on for rapid growth to be able to migrate come fall.
Conventional wisdom has held that the insect pests will be limited to areas in the southern United states but new research from North carolina State university shows that they may be able to expand into other parts of the country.
Analysis of the honeybee genome suggests that they lack many of the immune-system genes of other insects raising the possibility that honeybees'use of medicine has been partly responsible
Now Professor Hoffmann from the University of Melbourne and Professor Michale Turelli from the University of California have shown that by introducing an insecticide resistance gene alongside the Wolbachia bacteria into the mosquito that the insects pass on the disease-blocking bacteria to other mosquitoes faster.
Wolbachia bacteria strains live naturally inside up to 70%of all insects and are known to protect them against viral infection.
but then these insects would be unable to pass on a virus to humans. Prof Hoffmann added that insecticide resistance genes would not spread to the uninfected mosquito populations
and trap the biting insects according to findings published online today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
The bug-encrusted greenery was burned the next morning to exterminate the insects. Through painstaking detective work the scientists discovered that the creatures are trapped within seconds of stepping on a leaf their legs impaled by microscopic hooked hairs known botanically as trichomes.
Plants exhibit extraordinary abilities to entrap insects said Loudon lead author of the paper. Modern scientific techniques let us fabricate materials at a microscopic level with the potential to'not let the bedbugs bite'without pesticides.
The rice grain-sized insect has already wiped out an area of B c. lodgepole pine forest five times larger than the size of Vancouver Island.
What is specific and interesting about this bee is the fact that it is among those insects
#Bumblebees use logic to find the best flowersscientists at Queen Mary University of London and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) have discovered why bees copy each other
and joins Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical sciences later this year. Most worker bees visit thousands of flowers every day in their search for nectar to feed their queen's brood.
Copying flower colour choices may be a shortcut to success bypassing the exhausting process of exploring each flower to see
Erika Dawson a Phd student at Queen Mary University of London adds: Our study shows how bees use past associations to make decisions about
The above story is provided based on materials by Queen Mary University of London. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
The dual resistant insect and virus varieties may reduce or even eliminate the need for pesticides in several regions.
Thrips are tiny insects that pierce and suck fluids from hundreds of species of plants including tomatoes grapes strawberries and soybeans.
Adapting a novel form of insect resistance discovered in a wild plant native to Peru Mutschler-Chu professor of plant breeding and genetics first isolated the resistance.
The acylsugars don't kill the insects but deter them from feeding or laying eggs on the plants.
or tweaking virus resistance Mutschler-Chu wants to discover the best package for insect and virus control.
Therefore the insects are exposed to toxins before they even sense the presence of metals. Although many metals are required by living organisms in small amounts they can be toxic to both plants
Beyond leading to mortality these metals can interfere with insect taste perception agility and working memory--all necessary attributes for busy bumblebee workers.
or more toxins to fend off insect pests rests on assumptions that don't always apply UA researchers have discovered.
Our goal is to understand how insects evolve resistance so we can develop and implement more sustainable environmentally friendly pest management he said.
We obviously can't release resistant insects into the field so we breed them in the lab
#Insect pests more plentiful in hotter parts of city than in cooler areashigher temperatures in cities can be a key driver of insect pest outbreaks on trees in urban areas according to research published March 27
when other factors like natural enemies that would kill the insects were similar in both areas.
However insects originally from cooler urban areas remained low in number in both hot and cool greenhouses.
The researchers found no differences in the rates of reproduction of insects in any of these groups.
Meineke explains that Urban warming can lead to higher insect pest abundance a result of pest acclimation or adaptation to higher temperatures.
The study is the first to show that these pesticides have a direct impact on pollinator brain physiology.
Pollinators perform sophisticated behaviours while foraging that require them to learn and remember floral traits associated with food.
Together the researchers expressed concerns about the use of pesticides that target the same area of the brain of insects and the potential risk of toxicity to non-target insects.
Together these studies highlight potential dangers to pollinators of continued exposure to pesticides that target the insect nervous system and the importance of identifying combinations of pesticides that could profoundly impact pollinator survival.
This research is part of the Insect Pollinators Initiative joint-funded by the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council Defra the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) the Scottish government and the Wellcome Trust under the auspices
Since Kennewick lies within a region near the heart of Washington state's $1. 5 billion apple-growing region an annual survey of fruit trees is performed by the Washington state Department of agriculture (WSDA) to look for any invading insects.
The Feder team is continuing to refine the genetic assays to develop a portable test that would be valuable in apple-growing regions as well as ports of entry where fruit infested by nonlocal insect species can be detected rapidly to prevent the spread of the insect.
Evasive alarm pheromones provoke an escape response in insects that visit a particular flower and until now we were not sure of the role that these pheromones played in social bees.
and more emphasis on neatness blocking cracks where insects can enter and other so-called integrated pest management (IPM) measures scientists have concluded.
So caffeine in nectar is likely to improve the bee's foraging prowess while providing the plant with a more faithful pollinator.
and tastes bitter to many insects including bees so we were surprised to find it in the nectar.
This project was funded in part by the Insect Pollinators Initiative which supports projects aimed at researching the causes
and consequences of threats to insect pollinators and to inform the development of appropriate mitigation strategies.
and agriculture since bees are essential pollinators for many crops and wild flowering species. If declines are allowed to continue there is a risk to our natural biodiversity and on some crop production.
Bats make up a large component of mammalian diversity in forest ecosystems where they play an important role as insect predators.
The researchers conducted surveys in 2003 using high-frequency microphones to record the ultrasonic echolocation pulses that bats use to hunt insects.
Fire may provide a pulse of insects immediately after the fire and create roosting habitat later on as snags decay
and insect resistance but it can stand in the way of enzymes that want to get at the sugars locked up in the carbohydrates.
and the important pollinator services they provide. The results are published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Bees are considered the most important pollinators because of their efficiency specificity and ubiquity. However despite concerns about pollinator declines long-term data on the status of bee species are scarce.
In the new study the researchers used new web-based software to compile 30000 museum specimen records representing 438 bee species. A novel aspect of this study was the use of collaborative
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