This paper studies the computational complexity of the Proper interval colored graph problem (picg), when the input graph is a colored caterpillar, parameterized by hair length. In order prove our result we establish a close relationship between the picg and a graph layout problem the Proper colored layout problem (pclp). We show a dichotomy: the picg and the pclp are NP-complete for colored ca...

Collective behavior in the forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria) meets the thermal constraints of being an early spring folivore, but introduces other constraints in food choice. These are minimized by state-dependent, inter-individual, and ontogenetic variations in responses to social cues. Forest tent caterpillars use pheromone trails and tactile communication among colony members to ...

Despite the ubiquity of ontogenetic niche shifts, their drivers and consequences are poorly understood. Different nutritional requirements and stage-specific physiological limitations have often been offered as explanations for these life history features, but emerging work has demonstrated that top-down factors may also be important. We studied the roles of predation and associational refuge i...

In the arms race between plants, herbivores, and their natural enemies, specialized herbivores may use plant defenses for their own benefit, and variation in plant traits may affect the benefits that herbivores derive from these defenses. Pieris brassicae is a specialist herbivore of plants containing glucosinolates, a specific class of defensive secondary metabolites. Caterpillars of P. brassi...

A new abortigenic disease, now known as mare reproductive loss syndrome (MRLS), significantly affected the horse industry in the Ohio River Valley of the United States in late April and early May of 2001 and 2002. In 2001, approximately 25% of all pregnant mares aborted within several weeks (over 3,000 mares lost pregnancies), and abortion rates exceeded 60% on some farms. Mare reproductive los...

We tested the hypothesis that Arabidopsis can recognize and respond differentially to insect species at the transcriptional level using a genome wide microarray. Transcriptional reprogramming was characterized using co-expression analysis in damaged and undamaged leaves at two times in response to mechanical wounding and four insect species. In all, 2778 (10.6%) of annotated genes on the array ...

Damage by herbivores often modifies plant structure and physiology, which may change the behaviour performance of future herbivores. Here, we studied such interactions among major coconut pest, mite Aceria guerreronis (Acari: Eriophyidae), two minor pests, Steneotarsonemus concavuscutum Tarsonemidae) moth Atheloca bondari (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). All these species develop in meristematic zone ...

A novel X-ray technique shows that the internal organs of crawling caterpillars slide past the body walls like pistons in a new kind of legged locomotion.