The majority of herbivorous insects are specialized feeders restricted to a plant family, genus, or species. The evolution of specialized insect-plant interactions is generally considered to be a result of trade-offs in fitness between possible hosts. Through the course of natural selection, host plants that maximize insect fitness should result in optimal, specialized, insect-plant association...

Plagiodera versicolora, a willow beetle living on S. sachalinensis, is found on S. integra during early June in Hokkaido Island, Japan. This insect selects several species of willows (Salix), including S. integra as host plant in Honshu Island of Japan. To determine the reasons for the limited distribution of this beetle on the willows of Hokkaido, the feeding preference of the insect to leaves...

Our limited ability to accurately simulate leaf phenology is a leading source of uncertainty in models of ecosystem carbon cycling. We evaluate if continuously updating canopy state variables with observations is beneficial for predicting phenological events. We employed ensemble adjustment Kalman filter (EAKF) to update predictions of leaf area index (LAI) and leaf extension using tower-based ...

A new species of chrysomeline leaf beetle, Paropsisterna selmani Reid & de Little, is described, including all larval in-stars. This species, native to Australia, is now a significant pest of Eucalyptus plantations in Australia and Ireland, and has been recorded in southern England. Its occurrence in the British Isles represents the first record of establishment of a eucalypt feeding chrysomeli...

While working in his garden in the spring of 1763, English clergyman Edward Stone was positive he had found a cure for malaria. Tasting the bark of a willow (Salix alba), Stone noticed a bitter flavor similar to that of fever tree (Cinchona spp.), the Peruvian plant used to make quinine. He reported his discovery to the Royal Society in London, recommending that willow be tested as an inexpensi...

The red pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora foveicollis (Lucas) is a common, serious and major pest of a wide range of cucurbitaceous vegetables. It is injurious to the crops and cause severe damage to almost all cucurbits. The present study was conducted to find out the host suitability of red pumpkin beetle, Aulacophora foveicollis (Lucas) among different cucurbit hosts in the Laboratory and Field La...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS The major objective was to identify plant traits functionally important for optimization of shoot growth and nitrogen (N) economy under drought. Although increased leaf N content (area basis) has been observed in dry environments and theory predicts increased leaf N to be an acclimation to drought, experimental evidence for the prediction is rare. METHODS A pedigree of 200...

The Mediterranean Region is one of the world's biodiversity hot-spots, which is also characterized by high level of endemism. Approximately 2100 species of leaf beetle (Coleoptera; Chrysomelidae) are known from this area, a number that increases year after year and represents 5/6% of the known species. These features, associated with the urgent need to develop a DNA-based species identification...

The biosynthesis of chrysomelidial and plagiodial was studied in the rove beetle subtribe Philonthina (Staphylinidae). Glandular homogenates were found to convert synthetic (2E,6E)-[trideuteromethyl-5,5-(2)H(5)]octa-2,6-diene-1,8-diol (10) into nor-chrysomelidial (14) and nor-plagiodial (13). The overall transformation requires; i) oxidation of the substrate at C(1) and C(8), ii) cyclization of...

the cecidomyiid species rabdophaga heterobia (loew) induces gall on willow's male catkins, and causes small rosettes at the extremities of shoots and swollen lateral buds or lateral rosettes on some species of willow. during the years 2006-2007, a study on willow pests in the west azarbaijan province (saatloo poplar research station) was conducted. the following nine willow species were us...