Oleander is very frequently planted as an ornamental shrub in urban areas of the Mediterranean. Its most common pest aphid Aphis nerii, and heavy infestations produce aesthetic damage disturbances to citizens, they are sprayed with insecticides order reduce population density. One alternative method conservation biological control which enhanced by provisioning food, refuges, reproduction sites...

To better understand the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, it is increasingly accepted that focus of study needs to shift from taxonomic identity diversity functional traits displayed by species within a community. Such an approach allows be grouped according particular characteristics. Increasingly viewed as extremely important group model organisms, hoverflies have ...

There is widescale evidence for declines in insect biodiversity at a global scale. Agricultural intensification considered to be one of the major causes these declines. Traditionally managed habitat types, such as hay meadows, harbour rich diversity plants and animals but have been often transformed into crop fields or silage grassland. To evaluate role (i) agricultural (ii) traditionally meado...

In agricultural landscapes, forest herbs live in small, spatially isolated patches. For their long-term survival, populations depend on animals as genetic linkers that provide pollen- or seed-mediated gene flow among different However, whether insect pollinators serve herb landscapes remains to be shown. Here, we used population methods analyze: (A) the diversity and differentiation of two comm...

Sowing of wildflower strips has been integrated in agri-environment schemes several European countries. Their beneficial effects on natural enemies pest insects are well documented but (1) the desired spill-over into crop fields not always demonstrated, and (2) need to adapt sown mixtures regional climatic differences rarely addressed. We set up a multi-site experiment different French regions ...

1. There is growing interest in improving the biodiversity of urban and suburban areas. Here we report on the effectiveness of a very simple intervention that may be used to boost flower and pollinator abundance; the sowing of plots of wildflowers in amenity grasslands. The abundance of flowers, bumblebees (Bombus spp.), and hoverflies (Syrphidae) was surveyed in 30 such plots, either 1 or 2 ye...

The Afrotropical hoverflies remain an understudied group of hoverflies. One the reasons for lack studies on this resides in difficulties to delimit species using available identification keys. DNA barcoding has been found useful such cases taxonomical uncertainty. Here, we present a molecular study hoverfly from eastern Free State South Africa mitochondrial cytochrome-c oxidase subunit I gene (...