#Mown grass smell sends SOS for help in resisting insect attacksthe smell of cut grass in recent years has been identified as the plantâ##s way of signalling distress
but new research says the aroma also summons beneficial insects to the rescue. â#oewhen there is need for protection the plant signals the environment via the emission of volatile organic compounds which are recognized as a feeding queue for parasitic wasps to come to the plant that is being eaten
#whether by blade of a mower or jaws of a predatory insect â#by producing defensive proteins
To test how it functions in plant during insect attacks Kolomiets and his team used a mutant corn plant that could not produce the green leaf volatiles mown-grass smell when cut or torn.
which involves activation of defenses against insects on the plant. Then this molecule since it is a volatile attracts parasitic wasps.
They come to the plant that is being chewed up by insect herbivores and lay eggs in the caterpillarâ##s body. â#oewe have proven that
when an insect chews on the leaf. So this volatile is required to attract parasitoids. We have provided genetic evidence that green leafy volatiles have this dual function â#in the plant they activate production of insecticidal compounds
when thereâ##s enough insect pressure then the plants are more susceptible to insect damage
We have found that this gene is required for many many different physiological processes such as drought toleranceâ#he said. â#oewe observed that mutant plants are drought susceptible as well as susceptible to insect feeding.
and how it works. â#Such findings may help plant breeders know how to develop new varieties that are more resistant to insects and drought he noted.
Wind has no direct effect on the aphids tiny insects that hug the plants and anchor themselves while feeding with a needle-like mouthpart called a stylet.
and totally eco-friendly sound and odor devices to fight off insects from their cultivated fields.
These areas are an important resource for pollinators and it now seems they even have an impact on the yield of the cultivated crops.
Camilla Moonen and her team focus on natural pollinators like the wild bee. In experiments they are investigating
whether natural pollinators contribute a higher yield quality. Both of these studies have shown that modern agriculture can still learn from nature
and shape of emerald ash borers but did not attempt to duplicate the surface texture of the insects.
In addition the team has been investigating the use of the decoys to attract other insect species some
and sheep industries in the United states an estimated $125 million annually manages to survive the winter by reproducing in the insect that transmits it report veterinary scientists at the University of California Davis. The findings solve a century-old mystery
Different species specialize in keeping different pest insects under control in pollinating the many flowering trees and other plants in tropical landscapes and then in dispersing their seeds.
For example farmers in the United states and Australia have used planting of pest-friendly refuges to delay evolution of insect resistance to genetically engineered corn and cotton.
and quantity climatic conditions synchronization physiological conditions in both insect and food plant genetic modifications etc.
and change in different environmental conditions so an insect can change its choice of food plant on the basis of seeking the most beneficial complex of factors.
Singularly and combined these factors lower the toxicity threshold of fungicides for springtails. The study by scientists from the LOEWE Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (Bik-F) the Goethe University and the ECT Oekotoxikologie Gmbh was published in the September issue of the journal Applied Soil Ecology.
Springtails are tiny about 10 mm large creatures which participate in essential soil functions. Its numerous species include Folsomia candidaand Sinella curviseta
If springtails are affected therefore soil fertility will be affected too. As the new study shows low soil moisture (i e. 30%of the water holding capacity) leads to significant reduction of springtail juveniles.
We experimented with two different species of springtails. Both of them--but especially Folsomia candida--might have difficulties to produce enough offspring to keep a population stable in dry soil says Cornelia Bandow an ecologist at ECT Ecotoxicology Gmbh who conducts research for the German Biodiversity
and Climate Research Centre (Bik-F). Extreme climate conditions may also alter the effect of pesticides on soil organisms.
A risk for springtails under field conditions may not be expected as the toxic threshold of pyrimethanil is far above the maximum concentrations that may occur in soil
The pesky insects also have a long-range system that allows them to track down potential prey from more than 100 yards away.
Surprisingly the mosquitoes'small size and flexible exoskeleton actually reduces the impact of the raindrops on the insects'bodies.
However Pitts argues that these insects are opportunists rather than true specialists. For example numerous studies of A. gambiae taken from African huts have found that virtually all the females collected contained human blood:
and farmers in Wollenchitti Ethiopia to release the insects. The group moved from parthenium patch to parthenium patch dumping beetles from containers.
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.
What was surprising was that the salamanders collected on trees did not have anything one would associate with a plant-feeding insect like aphids.
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.
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.
It also suggests that we should begin looking at cities for clues to how other insect species will respond to higher global temperatures.
One third of our food is dependent on the pollination of fruits nuts and vegetables by bees and other insects.
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
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
Tall fast-growing trees access more sunlight and can capture more energy through photosynthesis. They are more obvious to pollinators
and releasing sterilised insects to produce nonviable matings known as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). Researchers simulated a wild environment within greenhouses in Crete
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.
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.
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.
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 genetics research of insects Kawahara said. There is a DNA revolution taking place Kawahara said.
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.
Insects may for instance be affected. They are an important source of food for many inhabitants of the woods
and one of the first conducted within the United states. Effective in killing a broad range of insect pests use of neonicotinoid insecticides has increased dramatically over the last decade across the United states particularly in the Midwest.
Like insect sponges they absorbed the heat which lowered temperatures. After 15 minutes a time brief enough to prevent serious harm to the bees the theater light was turned off.
We'd been seeing higher numbers of plant-eating insects like the gloomy scale in cities
Previous studies primarily in ants have found that some social insects work much harder than others in the same colony Robinson said.
A cross-disciplinary research team studied the impacts of groundcover management systems and nutrient source on soil characteristics tree health and productivity and insect disease and weed management.
Although just a nuisance to homeowners the insects feed on and damage fruits and vegetables causing significant economic losses for farmers.
These flat shield-shaped insects flap around noisily in homes especially in the fall as they seek places to hibernate during the winter.
and determine better ways to manage their expanding numbers as they do for other insects.
Many beekeepers believe that it is best to buy queens from outside instead of using the queens they have in their own beehives.
Local or exotic queen? Productivity in beehives is measured typically by how much honey the bees produce.
The factors that had the greatest influence on the survival of the bees were infection with varroa mites problems with the queen and infection with the disease nosema.
Colonies with queens from the local environment managed on average 83 days more than colonies with queens from foreign areas.
Our results indicate that the way forward is to strengthen the breeding programmes with local honey bees instead of imported queens.
and when used in combination with horticultural gauze and insect nets. Using this cover domestic products can be produced for consumers using less or even no pesticides.
#New recreational travel model to help states stop firewood assisted insect travelthe spread of damaging invasive forest pests is powered only partially by the insects'own wings.
and widen the insects'spread and resulting forest destruction. A new U s. Forest Service study gives state planners a tool for anticipating the most likely route of human-assisted spread they can use to enhance survey and public education efforts.
 The role of humans in the spread of invasive insects such as the emerald ash borer and Asian longhorned beetle is established well according to the study's lead author Frank Koch a research ecologist with the Forest Service
or dying trees that may be infested the dispersal of invasive insects via recreational travel has not been studied well.
Research has demonstrated that firewood harbors many bark-and wood-boring insects. In 2008 co-author Robert Haack of the Forest Service's Northern Research Station found that nearly 25 percent of firewood intercepted at the Mackinac bridge between Michigan's Upper
-and wood-boring insects and an additional 41 percent displayed evidence of prior borer infestation.
Damaging nonnative forest insects are a serious issue for public and private land managers said SRS Director Rob Doudrick Forest Service research is providing tools
and slowing the spread of invasive insects. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by USDA Forest Service â#Southern Research Station.
Bees have to learn many things about their environment including how to collect pollen from flowers said Raine who holds the Rebanks Family Chair in Pollinator Conservation a Canadian first.
and are well-known for their exceptionally well-preserved leaves insects and fishes. But no fossils of mammals had ever before been identified at the site.
and the insects included a mixture of Canadian and Australian species. Discovering mammals allows us to paint a more complete picture of this lost world said Dr. David Greenwood of Brandon University a co-author of the study.
In the case of bees and other pollinators he says a network of signals and cues shapes pollination informing animals about where
but have lost their ability to produce certain defense chemicals making them vulnerable to attack by insects and pathogens.
These protect maize against a range of insects bacteria and fungi pests yet some species have developed resistance against these toxins
Does the insect's sex age and body size have an influence on its flight potential?
The results allow them to learn more about the flight pattern of this insect which is threatening palm trees all over the world in order to set new preventive and curative measures against the pest.
The work team analysed the insect behaviour with a camera fitted with a flight mill connected to a computer.
Among their conclusions the study states that most of analysed insects-54%-covered a short distance less than 100 metres;
when an insect is detected all the palm trees within 500 metres run the risk of being infested weevil says Antonia Soto researcher at the Mediterranean Agroforestal Institute of the UPV.
With regard to the sex they determined that it does not affect the flight potential of the insect.
While in the case of age they noticed that the average of flying individuals is larger in insects between 8 and 23 days-old than in the newly hatched insects.
and they give significant clues about insect mobility. This information helps to improve the management of this pest
Dr Fiona Clissold who led the study explains why temperature has such a large influence on insect diets.
Whilst an insect's metabolic rate increases exponentially with temperature the rate at which locusts absorb protein
Dr Clissold adds Being small insects can take advantage of the multitude of microclimates available. As mammals are warm-blooded animals that maintain a constant body temperature it is unlikely that temperature overtly affects the nutrient quality of their diets.
It is hoped that the results from this study could be used to develop methods to control agricultural insect pests
and how climate change may affect dietary preferences of herbivorous insects. This research was presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting 2014 held at Manchester University UK from the 1st--4th of July.
Bother Youno one wants to get stung by an insect but for some people it can be very serious
because they are at risk of suffering life-threatening reactions to insect venom. If you experience facial swelling difficulty breathing
or another unusual reaction after insect stings call 911 and receive immediate emergency care. Follow up with an allergist who will prescribe epinephrine
#Get insects to bug off this summersummer means an increase in bug and insect activity.
How do you know which insects are harmful what diseases they carry and how to safely avoid them?
DEET is the most effective ingredient to protect against biting insects. Common insect repellent products contain up to 30%DEET for maximum protection says Christina Hantsch MD toxicologist at Loyola.
and less from reindeer Insect outbreaks mean browner sub-arcticseveral studies in recent years have pointed to the greening of the Arctic due to a warming climate.
More intense insect infestation more forest fires and increased drought pressure are probably the three largest factors causing this subarctic browning.
and fruits were more likely to be eaten by insects rather than dik-diks or rodents.
A single brown bat will eat its body mass equivalent in insects in one summer night Cornelison said.
In the study the researchers showed that the tetracycline gene construct also works in Drosophila the fruit fly lab rat of the insect world that is a distant cousin of the sheep blowfly.
and the activities of birds insect and other animals and therefore must be factored into climate-change model predictions.
but it also has implications for insect survival and for carbon dioxide absorption by forests. Leaf-out phenology affects a wide variety of ecosystem processes
'and an increased exposure to disease-carrying insects as a result. Through crop raiding a form of human-wildlife conflict hundreds of thousands of marginalized farmers are losing edible crops to damage from these troublesome animals each year.
and insects and it stores many antioxidants the study said. Grape phenolics serve as anti-inflammatory agents can reduce the risk of certain cancers
These insect-eating mammals'name comes from their noses'resemblance to the trunk of an elephant.
After Kasson successfully isolated the fungus in pure culture from infected plants a DNA analysis revealed that the fungus--Colletotrichum fioriniae--is also widely known as an insect pathogen that kills an invasive bug that infests
and other wild insects to pollinate crop plants can reduce harvest yields more drastically than a lack of fertilizer
and other research projects on the importance of insects for the pollination of crop plants.
According to the ACAAI pollen mold and insect stings are common allergy culprits during the summer months.
Some ant species support colonies of plant-feeding insects such as aphids or plant hoppers even protecting them from predators.
Ants also distribute organic matter by moving dead insects into the colonies and their dead nest mates away from the colonies Winkler added.
Like many other insect pollinators bees find their way around by using a polarization sensitive area in their eyes to'see'skylight polarization patterns.
However while other insects are known to use such sensitivity to identify appropriate habitats locate suitable sites to lay their eggs
Both pollinator and plant fitness is greatly dependent on the ability of pollinators to discriminate flowers accurately
which pollinators can discriminate flowers and it is advantageous for a plant to produce a number of different signals that a pollinator can utilise effectively.
Our findings suggest polarisation vision may provide sensory access to an additional floral cue for bees.
While some specific carefully designed actions--such as planting flowers for pollinators restoring species-rich grassland
and diverse communities of wild insects to pollinate crops or regulate pest outbreaks. These are enjoyed things by everyone
Researchers collected tree bumblebee queens from the wild checked them for parasites and then monitored colony development in a laboratory
and high levels of a nematode parasite that usually castrates other species 25 per cent of the queens were able to produce offspring.
--despite being highly toxic to a number of key insect pests. New research led by Newcastle University UK has tested the insect-specific Hv1a/GNA fusion protein bio-pesticide--a combination of a natural toxin from the venom of an Australian funnel web spider
and snowdrop lectin. Feeding acute and chronic doses to honeybees--beyond the levels they would ever experience in the field--the team found it had only a very slight effect on the bees'survival and no measurable effect at all on their learning and memory.
Publishing their findings today in the academic journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B the authors say the insect-specific compound has huge potential as an environmentally-benign'bee-safe'bio-pesticide and an alternative to the chemical neonicotinoid pesticides
which have been linked to declines in pollinator populations. Honeybees perform sophisticated behaviors while foraging that require them to learn
The decline of these insects raises significant concerns about our ability to feed a growing population.
The project is part of the Insect Pollinators Initiative jointly 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 of the Living
This is an oral pesticide so unlike some that get absorbed through the exoskeleton the spider/snowdrop recombinant protein has to be ingested by the insects.
Although Hv1a/GNA was carried to the brain of the honeybee it had no effect on the insect
or indirectly reliant on pollinators to survive she explains. If we destroy the biodiversity of pollinators then it will be irrelevant how effective our pesticides are
because we won't have any crops to protect. There is now substantial evidence linking neonicotinoid pesticides to poor performance and survival in bees and
and insect-specific pesticides will be just one part of that. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Newcastle University.
They get old die (due to fire insects hurricane etc. and regenerate. This paper improves on a fundamental theory in ecosystem development:
They recommend applying repellents containing 20-50%DEET to the skin when in countries with diseases spread by insects such as malaria and dengue fever.
and other biting insects which can leave people at risk of harm to their health.
and when insects transmit disease and we also teach courses on all aspects of biting insects vector-borne diseases and travel health.
We hope Insect repellent Awareness Day will cause people to stop and think this summer and pack their repellents.
Plant-feeding insects are attracted often to odors that are released by damaged plant tissue because these plants are already under attack
But this directed the attack toward the tips of less-important wings and not the more vulnerable head or body of the insect.
#Slowing the insect invasion: Wood packaging sanitation yields US $11. 7 billion net benefitthe emerald ash borer (Agrilus plantipenis) a recent insect immigrant to North america carried in with the wooden
packing material of imported goods is projected to cause over a billion dollars in damages annually over the next decade.
or heat treatment of wood pallets and crates to prevent the inadvertent import of new wood boring insect pests in shipping materials.
and colleagues estimate that the economic benefits of slowing the introduction of wood boring insect pests will accumulate a net benefit of $11. 7 billion taking into account benefits minus costs through 2050.
and are required for all EU-member states says Margaret Couvillon of the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects at the University of Sussex.
and by extension other insect pollinators are concerned--is called a place Castle Hill which happened to be the only National Nature Reserve in the area.
and cost to survey such an area on foot--to monitor nectar sources for quality and quantity of production to count the number of other flower-visiting insects to account for competition
and is among the smallest insects. It is the latest addition to the 1400 or so known species of the family.
Although its host is known not yet like other fairyflies it presumably has a life span of not more than a few days and attacks the eggs of other insects.
Temperature influences gender of offspring in bugswhether an insect will have a male or female offspring depends on the weather according to a study led by Joffrey Moiroux and Jacques Brodeur of the University of Montreal's Department of Biological sciences.
The research involved experimenting with a species of oophagous parasitoid (Trichogramma euproctidis) an insect that lays its eggs inside a host insect that will be consumed by the future larvae.
We know that climate affects the reproductive behaviour of insects. But we never clearly demonstrated the effects of climate change on sex allocation in parasitoids Moiroux explained.
Increasing fitnessin insects fitness is correlated positively with the size of an individual and this relationship is greater in females than in males.
since its larvae kill this insect host. It is of the utmost importance to clearly identify harmful and beneficial insects in the field
in order to adopt an appropriate strategy for integrated pest management Moiroux said. He will now be looking at
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